Pokémon - The Fall of Team Rocket
by Enterprise F
Summary: Revised and expanded. After the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship, Ash and Leaf are attacked by Team Rocket, which leads up to a climatic showdown between Ash, his friends and family, Leaf, and Team Rocket where a shocking betrayal changes everything for everyone and the world's freedom hangs in the balance. Delves deeper into the history of Ash and Leaf.
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo and Game Freak do. It and all of its characters are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri.

Pokémon: The Fall of Team Rocket

Chapter 1:

Ash Ketchum, a boy with spiky black hair and hazel eyes, wearing a black t-shirt with a red shirt over it with short black sleeves, a white collar, and a white line down the middle, blue pants and a red cap with a white Poké Ball symbol on its front, stood next to the sofa in the guest lodge of the World Pokémon League Stadium with his best friend and partner, Pikachu, a yellow mouse-like Pokémon that stood was little larger than a house cat with yellow and black striped fur, a lightning bolt-like tail, and red cheeks where he stored electricity, standing on the table. Ash hardly knew what to think as he took each step towards the door. Today was his thirteenth birthday and win or lose; he was going to celebrate it with his mother and Professor Oak once this upcoming battle was over. It was his hope, though, that his greatest birthday present of all time would be that he would win the battle and become the world Pokémon League Champion, and officially be recognized as a Pokémon Master.

Checking the time on the clock next to the sofa, he saw that the time for the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship was fast approaching. It was currently eleven forty-five A.M., and the battle was scheduled to begin at noon. He made one final check of the rules to make sure that he knew all of the differences between the final battle and his previous battle against Cynthia. There were no real significant differences, save for the fact that either he, or the current Champion, Leaf, could specify a specific set of rules that had to be agreed to by both battlers. He thought back to the start of his journey, where Pikachu refused to do a thing he told him and the two were constantly fighting. Now, they were the best of friends. They had never really been servant and master, regardless of what others may have thought, but the bond between Ash and Pikachu was closer than the bond many human friends felt. Pikachu was family to Ash, and Ash to Pikachu. They had both come a long way, and all of it was culminating into a final battle to become a Pokémon Master.

He then thought back on the previous four battles that he and his Pokémon friends had fought in to get to this point. There had been new rules in these latest battles, the most notable being the use of held items by the Pokémon. In his first battle, a battle against the Pokémon Trainer, the Johto League Champion, Ethan, he had found out how powerful the current Champions of the various leagues really were. Despite being his first opponent, he was not the easiest by a long shot. However, as tough as Ethan was, he was not the toughest of the Elite Trainers that Ash had to face. By far, his most formidable opponent had been Cynthia, the current reigning leader of the World Pokémon League. Only the second in command, Lance, the former Johto League Champion until two years prior, he was bested by Ethan, was anywhere close to Cynthia in power. He had since rechallenged Ethan and had managed to pull off a win against the second member of the World Elite Four that Ash had faced in his journey to the top. Still, in his numerous battles with Cynthia, the tall blond woman came out on top in all of them. However, there was one Trainer that was superior even to her, two counting Ash. Ash's upcoming opponent had been the only one to have ever defeated Cynthia on more than one occasion. It was Ash's hope to defeat the true World Pokémon League Champion and be declared a true Pokémon Master.

Once he was ready, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and looked over at Pikachu and asked, "Are ya ready, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" came the electric type Pokémon's response. He then hopped up onto Ash's shoulder.

"Our next battle will be our toughest," Ash told his friend. "We'll need to be at our best if we're gonna win."

Pikachu nodded and clenched his fingers into fists, his cheeks sparking with electricity. Ash could only smile at Pikachu's confidence and determination. It echoed his own. He would not lose to his next opponent. He checked the Pokémon that he had chosen and made sure that he had a balanced team, for despite the fact that his opponent was the World Pokémon League Champion, he knew very little about her team save for the fact that she had a Venusaur that could Mega Evolve since he had battled her Venusaur with Charizard a year ago in an exhibition battle. He did not even know Leaf's real name. All he knew about her personally was that she was said to be from Kanto, or have started in Kanto and that she made a member of the Kalos Elite Four, Malva, look like a complete joke. Unlike the Elite Four members, the computers had little to nothing on the Pokémon she would use. Still, Ash would not let that fact bother him. He knew that he could still win. Once he had slung his backpack over his other shoulder, he left the lodge.

The trip to the indoor stadium was pretty short. Once he arrived at the stadium he scanned his surroundings. There was little security save for some cameras and the fact that the door had an electronic lock that could only be opened by a card key. The door was made of metal and was resistant to Pokémon attacks and many kinds of conventional explosives. On the lock was a single slot for the card and a red light, indicating that the door was currently locked. He went over to the door and drew out a card. He swiped it through the slot on the side and the red light turned green and the door slid open. Once the door was open, he made his way his way through and entered the stadium.

The walk down the hall to the main indoor stadium was relatively long and the lights that lined the hallway were quite dim. As he walked, he thought he could see a figure out of the corner of his eye in the shadows down a darkened corridor to his left. Pikachu also must have sensed something, for his ears quickly flicked back and forth and he alerted Ash to the presence of someone. Ash looked at the shadow where he thought that had seen the figure, but there was no one there. He did, however, find a note on the ground. Stooping down, he went over and picked it up. He opened it and read it. It read: _Good luck, Ash_. There was no signature at the end of it, but he felt as if he recognized the handwriting on the note, though it did not belong to his mother, Professor Oak, or any of his friends. He folded the note and placed it in his pocket, not knowing what to make of it, but staying on the lookout for any surprise guests that might show up. He then made his way to the indoor stadium.

He entered the stadium and slowly made his way to the field. The stadium was huge, the stands easily able to hold at least ten to maybe even twenty thousand people, something that surprised him for an indoor World Elite Four stadium, especially a stadium where the true Champion for a league that was only available by invitation, like the World Pokémon League. In the center of the arena, a massive high-definition television hung, with four screens on each side of a massive square. This must have been used to show the action more closely for the audience. Above the stands were other screens, likely showing the audience, and the Trainers, the status of the Trainers' Pokémon. He did not focus too much on the scenery and simply made his way to the field, which was a high tech turquoise translucent surface. He suspected that it would utilize holographic technology to simulate various terrains and other surfaces, a far cry from the other Pokémon Leagues that used normal pre-constructed fields for battles. There was a square that was marked for the Pokémon Trainer and he stepped up to it. He glanced across the field and saw that it was still deserted. Checking his watch and found that it was eleven fifty-three A.M. He still had seven minutes before being required to report.

He glanced up into the stands and saw that a good crowd had gathered and while the stadium was not yet filled to capacity, people were still coming in. He quickly searched for his mother and friends, quickly managing to spot them. Sitting a few rows up, and in the best position to see the battle, was his mother, Delia Ketchum, and Professor Samuel Oak, also called the Pokémon Professor and the one who had given him Pikachu. His mother wore a pink short-sleeved shirt and a blue skirt that fell to her knees and had brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Next to her on her right was Professor Oak, the one who gave Ash Pikachu. He had gray hair, black eyes, and wore a red oxford shirt with khaki pants, and a white lab coat over the shirt.

Sitting to the left of his mother were three of his other friends from his previous adventures. The first of his friends to his mother's left was May, a Pokémon Coordinator from the Hoenn region of Japan. She was the same age as Ash. She had brown hair that fell almost to her shoulders in the form of two locks that formed a dog ear-like pattern and blue eyes. She wore a red and white hair band with a bow, a sleeveless red shirt over a black sleeveless undershirt and black shorts. Sitting next to May was Dawn, a Pokémon Coordinator from Sinnoh who had dark blue to almost black hair that fell past her shoulders and blue eyes. She wore a sleeveless black mini dress with an incredibly short black and pink miniskirt along with long pink boots. She, too, was Ash's age. Next to Dawn was Tracey, an assistant to Professor Oak. He was around seventeen years old and had short, thick black hair and wore a green short-sleeved shirt with red shorts that came down to his knees.

As Ash looked up at his friends and his mother, he saw them smile and wave at him. He returned their smiles and then scanned the rest of the bleachers. After a cursory scan, he noticed a shadowy figure standing on the opposite side of the stands from his friends and mother. The figure made certain to keep himself, or herself, in the shadows so as to not be able to be identified, hiding among several other spectators. However, Ash could see that the figure was looking over at the stands on the opposite side of the stands. Ash noticed the figure's eyes focus on his mother and he almost glared at the figure. The figure then looked down at him and for the first time, he could see the figure more clearly. He was still unable to make out the figure's face, but he could see that the figure was male.

A chime soon sounded and a door on the other side of the stadium opened. Cynthia, a tall woman with long blond hair, wearing black pants, a black trench coat, and a black undershirt came out onto the battlefield. She was the leader of the Elite Four and second in ability only to the World Pokémon League Champion and Ash. She made her way out to the center of the battlefield and once she arrived, she looked over at Ash and gave a kind smile. She then pulled out a microphone and began the proceedings, proclaiming, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this special battle for the World Pokémon League Championship. Allow me to introduce the battlers for this Championship battle. To my left is the current Kanto League, Indigo Conference, Champion and Orange League Champion going on two years, Ash Ketchum!"

The crowd gave a standing ovation for Ash as he waved shyly at the crowd. He had not anticipated this battle being so heavily populated. He soon recognized that many of the occupants were Gym Leaders and other important Pokémon Trainers, as well as some specially invited spectators. He heard his mother cry from the stands, "Do your best honey!" He blushed as she called out to him and waved, beaming. He waved back at her, and all of his friends that were sitting near her, who returned his wave and smiled. Looking at the other half of the stands, he thought he saw the shadowy figure give a smile his way. However, when he looked up, the figure had darted back behind some of the spectators.

Cynthia then glanced to her right and the large entry door on the opposite end of the stadium opened. Light shone through the door, outlining a group of shadowy figures that were coming toward him. After a few seconds, the figures revealed themselves to be a human girl that he instantly recognized as Leaf, and six Pokémon. The Pokémon that accompanied the girl were a Venusaur, Starmie, Jolteon, Chandelure, Garchomp, and Tyranitar. Upon laying eyes on the girl, Ash was immediately fixated on her and he ignored her Pokémon, which upon thinking about it, surprised him since it was virtually unheard of for the opponent to reveal his or her Pokémon before the start of the battle. She looked to be the same age as he was, which would have surprised him had he not seen her battle in Kalos. She had black hair, which fell past her shoulders, and blue eyes. She wore a sky blue sleeveless shirt over a black sleeveless undershirt and a red miniskirt. Ash's gaze was fixated on the girl and he could not take his eyes off of her. She was beautiful, but not in a romantic sense, at least not to him, which was surprising since she was the same age as he was and was wearing a rather revealing outfit. If anything, a protective feeling came over him, which was really surprising for him.

She eventually arrived at took her place in the circle in at the other end of the field. He continued to stare at her and a feeling came to him. There was something familiar about her, and while he had never met her before, that he knew of, he could not shake the feeling that the two of them knew each other. "To my right is the current World Pokémon League Champion. She won the Kanto Pokémon League at the tender age of ten and the World Pokémon League Championship at the tender age of twelve. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present, Leaf!"

The crowd gave a standing ovation for Leaf. She merely gave a curt nod to the crowd as they cheered and then focused her gaze on the section of stands to her right. As Ash heard her name, he noted to himself that Leaf was not a common given name. In fact, he thought it sounded more like a codename, especially since no last name had been given and she had a Venusaur, a Grass-type Pokémon, as one of her Pokémon. Thinking for a bit, he remembered that Leaf was very famous in Kanto, for she had been the bane of Team Rocket, having defeated their leader, Giovanni, on three separate occasions and had brought Team Rocket to its knees on numerous occasions. It was said that Team Rocket had even placed a substantial bounty on her head. Rumor had it that it was six to seven figures. He did not know whether or not that was true, but given his own interactions with Team Rocket, when it was someone other than Jessie, James, and Meowth, he knew them to be quite powerful and dangerous. Anyone who could bring them to the brink of annihilation was a formidable opponent indeed.

Ash noticed her give a soft smile towards someone in the audience. Following her gaze, he saw that she was smiling towards the shadowy figure that was doing his best to hide from sight. He also noticed the shadowy figure flash a smile down towards Leaf, and give her a thumbs up. She gave one more smile before quickly turning to Delia and Ash's friends and flashing them a smile before turning towards Ash and focusing on him directly. His gaze met with hers and they both grinned. They both knew that they would win this upcoming battle. After a few moments, Cynthia spoke again. "This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit. Each Pokémon will only be allowed the use of four moves in battle. In addition, only one Pokémon may be asleep or frozen at any given time. Also, only one Mega Evolution will be allowed per Trainer. The battle will end when all six of either Trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Deadly force is disallowed and will be cause for automatic disqualification, as well as prosecution, for both Trainer and Pokémon. Are there any questions?"

Ash shook his head. "No ma'am," he called in a loud, clear voice.

"I have no questions," Leaf began. Ash's eyes went wide with surprise and his mouth practically hung open, for he could have sworn that he recognized her voice from somewhere, only adding to the mystery of whether or not he had met her before, but could not place where he had heard it. "However, I do have a request. If it is okay with my opponent, I want Section One of the Old Rules to apply for this battle."

This request caused Cynthia's eyes to widen in surprise. "Old Rules?"

Leaf nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. "With Ash's permission, I want to invoke Section One of the Old Rules for this battle." She then focused on Ash, who did not know what she was talking about.

"What do you mean by 'old rules'?" he asked.

"Old Rules are the rules for the Pokémon League that were in place long ago when the leagues first began," Cynthia answered. "Among other things, the old rules allowed Trainers to have their Pokémon use deadly force in their battles. That is not what Leaf wants, though. Section One of the Old Rules stated that a Pokémon Trainer was like a general leading his or her troops into battle against an enemy army and general. As such, the Trainer was a legitimate target in the battle, and could also directly participate in the fighting as well. When most of the old rules were abolished fifteen years ago, Section One remained for five more years before finally being abolished, fearing that since humans were not as durable as most Pokémon, physically, that they could, and would, be hurt in the battles. As it is, for any of the Old Rules to be allowed for a battle, both sides must agree to the rule that is going to be used before the battle begins, though the use of deadly force is unauthorized even if all of the other Old Rules are invoked. Are you willing to accept Old Rules, Section One for this battle?"

For a moment, Ash was taken aback by the question. He had been taught, and it had been his experience, that Trainers were there to give commands to their Pokémon and to help bring out their full abilities on the battlefield, not participate directly in the fighting. He then looked at Leaf, who was carefully studying him. For a fleeting moment, he thought he had the feeling that she believed him to be a coward and a hypocrite; that he was someone who only cared about his own title of Pokémon Master, rather than about his Pokémon and that he did not really care about his Pokémon comrades. In addition, he could see in her eyes the question of whether or not his Pokémon had been brainwashed and forced to participate in this battle. Looking into her eyes, he quickly saw the accusation. It caused him to consider Cynthia's question. He had taken part in the action regarding his Pokémon fighting before, but that was mainly against Team Rocket, and that was a rare event that more often than not ended badly for him.

Staring across the battlefield, he saw Leaf turn to her Pokémon and ask them a question. He then saw each of her Pokémon give a nod as they answered her question affirmatively. As he watched her, could not shake the feeling that there was something familiar about her, despite the fact that he had never seen her before today. Looking at Pikachu, and then looking at her Pokémon, each of whom looked as if they would be willing to die for her, and her for them, he realized that if he really deserved his own Pokémon's loyalty, he would go through everything that they had; and the one thing that he had not yet done was take part in a Pokémon battle directly on the battlefield. He looked down at Pikachu and said, "Looks like today's gonna be a first for us." Turning towards Cynthia, he called to her in answer, "I accept Old Rules, Section One for this battle."

"You do realize that by accepting this Old Rule, that you will be a legitimate target, and combatant, in this battle, don't you?" Cynthia asked. "You can sustain a non-debilitating, non-fatal, attack from any of your opponent's Pokémon during this battle. And if you are taken down and rendered unconscious that your Pokémon will have to continue without you, possibly dooming them to defeat even if not all of your Pokémon have battled. Do you understand?"

"I do," Ash replied.

"Then this battle will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle with the Trainers also being combatants and commanders. The winner will be decided when one team's Pokémon, are unable to battle, or enter battle, and the Trainer, either gives up, is forced, or lands, outside of the battlefield, loses consciousness, or unfortunately, kills his or her opponent and/or any or all of his or her Pokémon. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am," both Trainers answered in loud and clear voices.

Cynthia then held up her right hand. "The battle will commence once the battlefield is chosen! Once three of either combatant's Pokémon has fainted, a new battlefield will be set."

As she was explaining this, the scoreboard above Ash and Leaf lit up and the symbols for the various types of battlefield, appeared. A green grassy image appeared for a grass battlefield, while trees appeared for a forest battlefield. Rocky images appeared for a rocky field, and the image of a pool appeared for a water field. There were also fire/lava and ice fields to choose from as well. Once the images appeared, an arrow pointed to one of the fields. In the press box above the stands, a controller then spun a dial near his station, which was shown on the scoreboard. The spinner continued to spin for several seconds until it slowed down, eventually coming to a rest pointing to the image of the grass field. The grass field image lit up and the battlefield before them suddenly glowed. After a few seconds, the glow died down and the image of grass could be seen on the field before them. Ash did not know for certain whether the holograms were tactile or not, but he suspected that they were and could be interacted with physically.

He glanced up at the scoreboard and the image of the grass field was replaced by the faces of both himself and Leaf. There were six slots next to each combatant to signify the six Pokémon that would be used. The slots were blank, but would be lit when each Trainer's Pokémon was sent out. Once the grass field had appeared, the final part of the pre-battle ceremony was determining who got to choose their Pokémon first. A circle with three red triangles and three green triangles appeared on the screen. A spinner then spun around and continued to spin until it landed on a red triangle. Cynthia turned to Ash and told him, "Ash, you have won the right to choose your Pokémon first, as well as been given the honor of initiating the battle." Cynthia brought down her hand in a chopping motion and cried, "Let the battle begin!"

Ash glanced down at Pikachu and asked, "Are ya ready, buddy?"

"Pika!" came Pikachu's enthusiastic response, the electric mouse clenching his fingers into fists with electricity crackling around his cheeks. He was quite ready for battle.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash proclaimed loudly enough that no microphone was needed to pick up on his voice.

"Go, Tyranitar," Leaf said in counterpoint, pointing towards a large, menacing bipedal dinosaur-like Pokémon with dark green armor, fangs, with its fingers and toes culminating into claws. A bluish gray diamond-shaped piece of armor covered its belly and it had a large number of spikes on its head, neck, back, and tail. Leaf's Tyranitar stepped forward onto the grassy battlefield, shaking the field with each step. Leaf had a confident look on her face, though she showed no signs of arrogance or cockiness. Tyranitar shared her confidence, and also her lack of arrogance. This would be a difficult battle for Ash, for while Leaf and her Pokémon were confident in their ability to win, they did not let their power go to their heads. As Tyranitar appeared on the battlefield, a sandstorm suddenly came into being, stunning Ash, as well as his friends up in the audience.

"A sandstorm?" Dawn blurted from up in the stands.

Professor Oak nodded sagely. "Tyranitar's ability is Sand Stream. It allows the Pokémon to summon a sandstorm when the Pokémon comes out onto the battlefield."

"Is there any way to dispel the sandstorm once it's summoned?" Delia asked.

"It will eventually dissipate on its own," Professor Oak answered. "Other than that, one of Ash's Pokémon would need to alter the weather, itself, if he wanted to get rid of the sandstorm."

Looking on, full of concern, May asked, "Does Ash have any Pokémon that can change the weather?"

"I don't know," Professor Oak answered. "I haven't seen the entirety of his team in quite a while. But from what I know, I doubt it."

The others then looked on with concern, wondering what Ash would do to counter the sandstorm, and Leaf's strategy.

Back down on the battlefield, Ash tuned out the announcer's play-by-play commentary and focused on the battle at hand. He was not concerned about the confidence of Leaf and her Tyranitar, for he had confidence in his Pokémon as well. Pikachu shielded his eyes from the buffeting of the sand as he tried to maintain his focus on Tyranitar. Ash, too was having some difficulty, but Leaf seemed to be having no issues whatsoever, having put on goggles to protect her eyes from the sandstorm. Locating Tyranitar, and pointing to the Pokémon, Ash called to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity and after a second, a yellow bolt of lightning was unleashed towards Tyranitar. While Pikachu had been powering his Thunderbolt, Tyranitar had not been idle. Several silver glitters of energy appeared around Tyranitar and grew larger as Pikachu unleashed his attack on Tyranitar. Despite the sandstorm limiting Pikachu's vision, his aim was true and the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon suffered a direct hit, tensing up a bit as it gave a growl of discomfort, though the attack was nowhere near strong enough to distract it from performing its technique. As such, the silver glitters grew in size until they became large, solid gray rocks. The rocks then imbedded themselves into the ground and burrowed underneath the ground until they were no longer visible.

Ash began to become concerned, for he did not immediately recognize the attack that Tyranitar used. "Be careful, Pikachu," he warned the electric mouse-like Pokémon. "She's up to something."

Up in the stands, Ash's Mother, Delia Ketchum, and the others looked down at the battlefield and were dumbfounded that Leaf's Pokémon had performed a move without being issued a command, as well as being concerned that Pikachu's Thunderbolt had inflicted such little damage to the Pokémon. "What attack was that?" Delia asked.

"Stealth Rock," Professor Oak replied.

"Tyranitar used Stealth Rock without being given an order?" Dawn blurted. "How would it know to do such a thing?"

"Don't underestimate Pokémon intelligence," came a voice from behind. It belonged to a young man in his late mid to late twenties with spiky red hair wearing a red and black suit with a similarly styled cape. "They are far smarter than you know. That's why Mi…I mean, Leaf," he paused, catching himself, "only uses volunteers for her teams. She doesn't even keep them in their Poké Balls, save for infiltration missions, and even then, she does not activate the Poké Balls' seals. For her and all of her Pokémon, this is training for far more important future endeavors."

The others turned and May, Professor Oak, and Delia recognized the newcomer as being Lance of the Elite Four. "How do you know so much about Leaf?" May asked.

"Leaf is one of the Pokémon G-Men," Lance answered. "She also battled and defeated me when she rose in the ranks of Pokémon Trainers and became the Kanto Pokémon League Champion. She and her Pokémon used the same tactics against me and the other Elite Four members that she is currently using against Ash. That and one other tactic that Ash will have to realize she can use, and exploit his end of it, if he wants to have any hope of defeating her."

"Leaf's a member of the G-Men?" May exclaimed in disbelief.

Lance nodded.

"How? She looks like she's no older than Ash!"

"Actually, she _is_ Ash's age," Lance replied with a knowing smile that caused the others to wonder if there was something more to Leaf than met the eye. "And technically, she's not an official member, due to her age," he amended. "She's mostly a 'consultant', though she does participate in raids and in missions given by the agency." After hearing Lance's explanation, the group focused back down on the battle below them.

"Enough about Leaf, what about Ash?" Dawn blurted. "First Tyranitar uses its ability, Sand Stream, to summon a permanent sandstorm, and now it uses Stealth Rock to hit any Pokémon that switches into battle. How can Ash contend with this?"

"Trust in Ash," Lance answered calmly. "He's been in trouble before and managed to get out of it."

"Yeah, but not like this," Dawn replied. "Strategies like this would have taken down Trainers like Tobias, the Sinnoh League Lily of the Valley Conference Champion."

"This very strategy _did_ defeat Tobias," Lance corrected, bringing a shocked gasp from both Dawn. "And she did it without losing a single Pokémon. The only difference then was that she used Cloyster, rather than Starmie, because Cloyster knows Toxic Spikes and Tobias used only Legendary Pokémon, none of which was a Poison-type, which would have negated the Toxic Spikes, and none of who also knew Rapid Spin or Defog. Toxic Spikes, combined with Stealth Rock and Sand Stream gave her a quick victory. She could switch to Pokémon that had a type advantage, or simply switch out a Pokémon that needed a rest, while Tobias was trapped into using a single Pokémon, or switch and have his Pokémon constantly take hits from Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes, in addition to the severe poisoning of his Pokémon, as well as them being buffeted by the sands."

"Has anyone managed to defeat Leaf?" Delia asked after hearing her feats.

Lance shook his head. "Not since she became the Kanto League Champion, no. As far as I know, Leaf is completely undefeated in battle. Ash has an uphill battle ahead of him. But it's not hopeless," he added reassuringly. "There's a first time for everything. Maybe Ash will be the first to defeat her. He is uniquely qualified for doing so," he added.

The others then nodded and returned their focus onto the battlefield. Delia, May, and Dawn, then cried in unison, "Come on, Ash. You can do it!"

Back on the battlefield, Tyranitar had finished setting its rocks into the ground. Pikachu stepped into the area where the rocks had burrowed beneath the surface in order to see if it was a trap that had been set. When there was no reaction, both Ash and Pikachu let out a sigh of relief. It was not a new move that he had never heard of. However, just as he was beginning to feel some relief, he could not help but feel a small chuckle coming from his opponent. Looking across the battlefield, he saw Leaf staring at Pikachu and Tyranitar. Ash, viewing this as his best chance to attack and inflict damage with a super effective attack, called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu complied and charged towards Tyranitar. His tail immediately shined a bright silver and he jumped towards the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. He performed a forward somersault as he was about to strike Tyranitar when Leaf cried, "Tyranitar, return!" She held out a Poké Ball and a red beam erupted from it, striking Tyranitar. The large Pokémon immediately turned into a red blob of energy and was drawn back into the Poké Ball, riding the beam of energy. Once it was inside the Poké Ball, Leaf immediately opened the ball, and a blue glowing blob of energy emerged from the ball. The energy soon transformed back into Tyranitar and he took his place next to the other Pokémon of Leaf's team.

As for Pikachu, his Iron Tail attack slammed into the ground, gouging a hole that was at least a few meters in diameter and one meter deep. Leaf looked at the damage and was thankful that Tyranitar had not taken the hit, something that Ash managed to feel. Just as Tyranitar took his place back with the rest of the team, Leaf's second Pokémon stepped forward. This Pokémon was Garchomp. Garchomp was a dark blue Pokémon with a red underbelly that covered most of its abdomen. Its head was shaped like that of a Hammerhead shark, and it had fins protruding from its arms. It also had a dorsal fin and a tail that looked like a fish's tail. The Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon stepped forward and focused on Pikachu, who was beginning to look quite concerned at the prospect of facing a Pokémon like Garchomp when he was at a severe type disadvantage. Ash was also growing increasingly worried since Garchomp had come out without any order given by Leaf, and she appeared to not have any issue with Garchomp stepping out without authorization. It was almost as if this was the plan from the beginning.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends were shocked that Garchomp had stepped forward without a single word from Leaf. Dawn was dumbfounded that Garchomp had stepped onto the battlefield without authorization, and had grown even more concerned when Leaf smiled confidently, rather than recalled him. "She can switch Pokémon without giving any order?" she gasped, not bothering to hide her surprise.

"As stated before, don't shortchange Pokémon intelligence," Lance reiterated. "Leaf has trained her allies quite well. She is the general of this unit, but she is very willing to give her soldiers some leeway in the field, especially if it expedites the accomplishing of her mission. She _wants_ her Pokémon to be smart enough to be able to switch in without any verbal commands or hand signals, and to use attacks against opponents without direction. That keeps her opponents on edge and allows her to play mind games without uttering a single word. It also allows her to participate in the fighting, adding another fighting unit to the battle. And, should the unthinkable happen and she be taken out of the fight, her Pokémon allies can continue the battle in her absence."

"But it's almost as if this was her plan all along," Delia stated, noticing Leaf's grin. "Leaf's grinning almost as if this is all going according to her plan."

"Garchomp is powerful," Lance told him. "But he is not her best Pokémon. For this team, that title belongs to Venusaur."

"Who also has a type advantage over Pikachu," Tracey chimed in. "And if Leaf's smart, Venusaur will also know Sleep Powder."

"Which makes it more likely that Garchomp entering the battle was the plan all along, since she has a lot of counters for Pikachu."

"In addition to Garchomp being part Ground-type and thus, immune to Sandstorm," Tracey added.

"But why not bring in Venusaur and force Ash to use Charizard or Glalie?" May asked. "It's almost a certainty that Charizard is on his team and Stealth Rock would devastate him. Not only that, but if Ash also has Glalie, it, too, would suffer heavier than normal damage due to Stealth Rock."

"We may find out shortly," Professor Oak replied. "I have a feeling that Leaf knows that Charizard is on Ash's team. She just wants to find out who the rest of Ash's Pokémon are. Her refusal to keep her Pokémon in Poké Balls does give Ash one advantage. He knows all of the Pokémon on her team and he can plan a strategy accordingly."

"Assuming she doesn't already know who's on his team," Lance muttered in an ominous tone, one that Delia and Professor Oak quickly caught onto. They both wondered how Leaf would know which Pokémon were on Ash's team. The group then focused on the battlefield intensely, waiting to see what Ash's next move would be.

Back on the battlefield, Ash called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, return!"

Despite wanting to remain on the battlefield and battle Garchomp, despite his disadvantage, Pikachu obeyed and turned and ran to Ash. "You did great, buddy," Ash told his friend. He took out a Poké Ball and tossed it onto the battlefield. "Go Snorlax!" Ash shouted.

The ball arced through the air and at the apex of its arc, hovered for a moment and opened. A large blob of blue energy emerged from the ball and landed on the field. An instant after it touched the ground, the energy formed into a large, fat bipedal dark gray Pokémon with a tan underbelly and face appeared, sparks flying off of his body as he touched onto the ground. It also had stubby legs and large feet with three claws at the end of each foot, along with relatively small arms. The Pokémon let out a deep, "Snorlax," in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Ash gave a grin as Snorlax prepared to fight Garchomp. As soon as Snorlax had exited the Poké Ball, the ball closed and returned to Ash, who caught it and clipped it back onto his belt.

Leaf only grinned as Snorlax appeared on the battlefield. Ash could not help but notice that it seemed as if she was expecting him to use Snorlax, rather than a more obvious Pokémon like an Ice-type Pokémon or a Water-type that could use Ice-type attacks, like Blastoise or another of his Water-types, or even a Ground-type due to the sandstorm. Just as Snorlax landed on the field, the rocks that had been imbedded into the ground rose up and floated into the air. They spun around for a second before flying in towards the Pokémon, colliding with him. Snorlax gave a grunt of pain as he was crushed between the stone pillars. Ash let out a gasp. _Stealth Rock_! he thought as he frantically considered what his next course of action would be. Next, the sand from the sandstorm buffeted Snorlax and while the large Pokémon suffered barely any damage from the sandstorm, he did feel it, and every little bit would add up in a prolonged battle. He would not be given much time to think on his strategy, though, for Snorlax's appearance was Garchomp's cue to exit the battle. Garchomp leapt high into the air and landed back among the rest of Leaf's Pokémon team.

Once Garchomp had taken its position back with the rest of Leaf's team, another Pokémon came to take its place. This Pokémon was a dog-like Pokémon with yellow fur that formed yellow spikes on its rear, and a white, spiky collar. The yellow fur could also gain the sharpness of needles. Ash immediately recognized Jolteon as it came out onto the battlefield, having faced Jolteons in the past. This surprised him since Jolteon was not immune to the effects of Sandstorm. The sands buffeted against Jolteon and it gave a grunt. Leaf began to look a little concerned and was fingering one of the Poké Balls at her waist. Seeing that this was a type neutral match-up, Ash decided to test Jolteon's strength. "Snorlax, use Body Slam!" he cried.

Snorlax acknowledged the command and jumped high into the air, his trajectory taking him directly towards Jolteon. Jolteon stood there unconcerned, a ball of electricity forming in front of his mouth. Ash gritted his teeth, for he knew that Jolteon was about to use Volt Switch and switch with one of Leaf's other Pokémon. The ball of electricity leapt from Jolteon's mouth and scored a direct hit on Snorlax and before he could land on Jolteon, the Electric-type Pokémon sped away and another of Leaf's Pokémon came out onto the stage as Snorlax crashed into the ground, throwing up a massive cloud of dust and debris.

Looking out beyond Snorlax, Ash saw a Pokémon that resembled a chandelier was floating onto the stage; ghostly purple flames flickering on the four lamp-like structures on the sides of its head, as well as a flame coming up from the center of its head. He gave a scowl at the sight of Chandelure, a Pokémon whose line he had had bad experiences with in Unova. In fact, the Litwick and Lampent that he had encountered in a dilapidated mansion had been one of the few evil Pokémon that he had actually encountered. Ash then wondered why Jolteon had used Volt Switch. Looking over at Mia, he only saw her grinning. Mia? Where did that name come from? Was that Leaf's real name? He wondered what brought that thought on, and why it seemed to resonate with him so strongly. Who was she?

He did not know what to think and he froze for a moment as suddenly, a ring of gray energy balls surrounded Chandelure. Ash recognized the attack as Hidden Power, but did not know why it would be used for a second until he remembered that Hidden Power could take on the attribute of any attack type. The image of Hidden Power Fighting soon came to his mind and without thinking, he drew out Snorlax's Poké Ball and yelled, "Snorlax, return!" A red beam of energy emerged from the Poké Ball and struck Snorlax an instant before the Hidden Power energy orbs hit and the Normal-type Pokémon was recalled. The orbs struck nothing but air as they passed through the space that Snorlax had occupied an instant earlier and continued on until they crashed into the stadium wall well behind Ash. Ash grinned and selected another Poké Ball and tossed it towards the field. "Donphan, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball opened at the apex of its throw and again, a blue blob of energy was released. As with the other Pokémon that had emerged from Poké Balls, once Donphan came out, a series of sparks erupted from the Pokémon and Donphan gave a cry. Donphan was a light gray elephant-like Pokémon with a thick, dark gray to almost black band of hide that ran down his head and back. He also had four short legs with a dark gray band around each of them, as well as a pair of white tusks and elongated ears that were stiffly held to the side of his head. As soon as Donphan appeared on the battlefield, gray rocks rose from the ground and spun around the elephant-like Pokémon. They then converged on Donphan and collided with him. Since Donphan was a Ground-type Pokémon, though, he suffered only minimal damage and did not even grunt at the strike. Donphan then glared at Chandelure and gave a cry. The sands from the sandstorm that had been summoned by Tyranitar's Sand Stream buffeted against Donphan, but being a Ground-type Pokémon, the sandstorm did not affect him in the slightest. Ash realized that this was his chance to get rid of the Stealth Rock that had been placed onto the battlefield. "Donphan, use Rapid Spin!"

Donphan gave a cry and complied, curling up and appearing similar to a tire. Donphan then rolled in place, much like he would if he were preparing a Rollout attack. However, Donphan remained in place and began to dig up the ground. He rolled along the ground, digging it up, and exposing the stones from Stealth Rock. He barreled into the stones, but upon colliding with them, he was stopped mid-roll, unable to even dent them much less actually destroy them. Ash then heard Leaf call to him, "Rapid Spin doesn't work properly if you use it against a Ghost-type Pokémon. Even if you use it against the ground only, there's something about Ghost-types that throws off Rapid Spin." Looking out at Leaf, he saw her crossing her arms and smirking towards him.

Ash grimaced as Leaf gave him the advice. He had a feeling that there was something else going on, and he quickly realized what it was. Chandelure was simply floating there, a glow emanating from its body. Ash did not know what Chandelure was doing, and he did not care. He knew that he still had to get Chandelure off the battlefield so he could clear away the Stealth Rock. He knew that chances were that Starmie or Venusaur would be the next Pokémon called out and he hoped that Donphan would be able to weather the assault that either of those Pokémon would use against him. He called out to Donphan, "Donphan, use Stone Edge on Chandelure!"

Donphan gave a cry and raised his trunk as a series of white rings surrounded him. Stones from the ground soon rose to the rings and began to ride them. The Ground-type Pokémon targeted Chandelure, who was now in the process of powering a fire attack of its own. Before Donphan's attack was ready, Chandelure unleashed a blast of fire that looked like a human stick figure. As the Fire Blast was bearing down on Donphan, the Pokémon was finally ready to unleash his attack on the Ghost-type. A series of stones were then propelled towards Chandelure, several of the stones making contact with the blast of fire, while a few managed to fly around it and score direct hits on the Ghost-type Pokémon. Chandelure recoiled from the attack and gave a cry of pain as it was thrown backwards by the force of the super effective attack. However, it quickly recovered and continued to focus on Donphan.

Not too far ahead of it, its Fire Blast was focusing on the main strength of Donphan's Stone Edge attack. The stones collided with the fire, but since Chandelure had used Calm Mind to power up both its special attack and special defense abilities, the Fire Blast was too strong for the rocks. Although significantly weakened, it was eventually able to overpower the attack and score a direct hit on Donphan. Since it was weakened, though, Donphan only sustained moderate damage. He gave a grunt as he took the attack, its power forcing him to slide backwards a few feet, but he endured the blow and was ready to continue the battle. Chandelure was ready to attack again when Leaf's voice rang out from behind it. "Chandelure, return!" she cried.

A look of shock came across Chandelure's face as it turned to face Leaf, obviously questioning her command. "Return Chandelure!" Leaf reiterated more forcefully. "You're too valuable a Pokémon to risk against Donphan this early in the battle. Take a few moments to catch your breath. You'll be needed later on."

Eventually, Chandelure acquiesced to Leaf's wishes and it floated back to the main party of Pokémon. After that, Venusaur and Starmie then turned to face her. After a moment, she focused on Venusaur and said, "Venusaur, you're up."

"Saur," came a deep masculine voice in reply as Venusaur stepped forward. Venusaur resembled a cross between a toad and a dinosaur. It had dark blue-green skin with toad-like warts on its legs, but its most prominent feature was the large flower that had bloomed on its back. It was a red flower with six large petals with white spots on it, supported by a brown trunk that looked somewhat like a fat palm tree trunk. In addition, as a Bulbasaur, Venusaur had been Leaf's starter and was her most versatile and useful, if not necessarily her most powerful in raw power, Pokémon. As Venusaur stepped out onto the battlefield, Ash grimaced. He knew that Donphan would get one shot before being either knocked out or forced to switch due to the type disadvantage.

As Venusaur appeared on the battlefield, it was buffeted by the sands from the sandstorm and gave a grunt, but did not seem to be too heavily bothered by the sand. Ash used this opportunity to clear away the rocks from Stealth Rock, calling out to Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away the rocks from Stealth Rock!"

Donphan obeyed and curled onto a ball and rolled around Ash's side of the battlefield, digging up the ground. As he rolled, he came upon the rocks from Stealth Rock and barreled into them. This time, though, the rocks shattered upon impact. After a few more seconds, the rocks were cleared and it was safe for Ash to switch his Pokémon once more without fear of having to deal with Stealth Rock. Gripping Donphan's Poké Ball, Ash called, "Good job, Donphan. Return!" He then returned Donphan to his Poké Ball and selected another Pokémon. "Snorlax, I choose you!"

This caused Leaf to raise her eyebrows. "Snorlax again?" she blurted, seemingly surprised. Despite her outward appearance of surprise, Ash had a feeling that she was merely acting, as evidenced by her slight grin when Snorlax reappeared. "You really don't know how to face a Trainer like me, do you," she muttered inaudibly, though Ash seemed to hear her as clearly as if she had shouted it across the battlefield.

"Don't underestimate me or my Pokémon," Ash retorted.

" _Your_ Pokémon?" Leaf called back. "The only ones that Pokémon belong to are themselves." Ash could tell that he had struck a nerve. He also got the impression that she was a little disappointed in him, as well as a little angry. "You're a fool Ash Ketchum. You think you care about your Pokémon when in reality, you're little different from the other Trainers that I've faced, and slaughtered."

Ash almost chuckled. She sounded like a member of Team Plasma. He began to think that he could use Mia's, there was that name again, anger against her when he noticed a cloud of blue dust appear over Snorlax. Suddenly realizing what was going on, he cried, "Snorlax, dodge the Sleep Powder and use Ice Punch!"

Snorlax did his best to dodge the Sleep Powder, but the Pokémon was unable to escape the powdery cloud. The blue cloud covered Snorlax and the massive Pokémon immediately fell asleep, collapsing onto the ground. As Snorlax fell asleep, Venusaur began to glow, and the plant on its back began to grow larger, indicating that it was either using Growth or powering up a Solar Beam. This was Ash's cue to bring back Snorlax. Holding out his Poké Ball, he called, "Snorlax return!"

A red beam issued from his Poké Ball, struck the sleeping Snorlax, turning him into a red blob of energy, and drew him back into the Poké Ball. Ash gave a grin. He had her, as evidenced by Mia's grimace. "Charizard, I choose you!"

Tossing a Poké Ball onto the battlefield, the ball opened and an orange European dragon-like Pokémon with a tan underbelly appeared on the battlefield with a flame on the end of his tail. The dragon-like Pokémon also wore a necklace that had a light orange stone with a red and yellow flame symbol in the center of it. Leaf grinned. She knew that this would be Ash's Mega Evolution Pokémon. Charizard gave a roar and belched out a stream of flame towards the ceiling. A white light appeared on the field beneath the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, which Ash took to be a safeguard that would prevent Charizard from falling asleep due to a Pokémon attack. Mercifully, the sandstorm that had been raging on the field promptly vanished and Charizard had taken no damage. Venusaur, however, had not been idle during Charizard's entry onto the battlefield. It immediately went on the offensive and launched a Solar Beam attack on Charizard. Charizard saw the attack coming, though, and managed to dodge the yellow beam of light that was launched his way from the top of Venusaur's plant. The beam of light continued until it hit the ceiling, blowing a hole in it. Leaf then called, "Venusaur return!"

Venusaur immediately retreated from the battlefield with blinding speed, far more than Ash would have suspected given its size. The rest of the team then turned to Leaf, waiting for her orders since any number of them could go out and counter Charizard. She turned to Tyranitar and told him, "You're up again Tyranitar."

Tyranitar gave a roar and ran onto the battlefield. As he did so a sandstorm started brewing once more. Ash knew that this Charizard's cue to exit. Ash pulled out his Poké Ball and called him back, calling, "Charizard return!" Just before the beam was emitted from the Poké Ball to bring back Charizard, though, Tyranitar surged forward at Charizard and collided with him, forcing the air out of the dragon's lungs. Just then, the beam struck Charizard and he was drawn back into the Poké Ball, but not before suffering noticeable damage from Tyranitar's Pursuit.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and mother looked down on the battlefield, their concern for how the battle was turning out evident on their faces. They had had a moment's relief when Ash had gotten rid of the Stealth Rock, but that moment was soon replaced when Snorlax had been put to sleep and Charizard took a strong hit from Tyranitar's Pursuit. While one attack did not decide a battle, the group was quick to notice that Ash had failed to land any serious blows on Leaf's Pokémon, the only noticeable hit being Pikachu's Thunderbolt on Tyranitar. Lance merely watched with a smirk. "She's doing it again," he said casually.

"What do you mean?" Delia asked.

"Leaf's battle plan is not simply to overpower her opponent, but to have her opponent beat himself," Lance explained. "Look at how she's battling. She's drawing out Ash's Pokémon and seeing what his team consists of. Ash has revealed four of his six Pokémon, and one of them is asleep, with another having taken a serious hit from a strong Pokémon of Leaf's. If this keeps up and it remains nothing more than a switching contest, Ash will lose, for when Leaf finally decides to go on the offensive for real, his team will have been worn down in the opening phase of this battle."

"This battle's not over yet," Tracey noted. He focused on Ash and his expression, and noticed him grinning. "And from the looks of things, Ash has a plan of his own."

Lance looked down at Ash, and then at Leaf, who seemed to be grimacing. "Well, well. It looks as if he may be catching on," he mused. He continued to focus on the two combatants, hoping that he was correct and that Ash was about to make a fight of it.

Back down on the field, Ash cried, "Donphan, I choose you!" He tossed the Poké Ball onto the field and it opened up, letting out Donphan onto the battlefield once more. Donphan gave a cry and stomped the ground. The sands of the sandstorm summoned by Tyranitar's Sand Stream buffeted the Pokémon, but did not inflict any damage. Ash grinned. It was time for him to correct a mistake that he had made earlier. "Donphan, use Stealth Rock!"

Several silver glitters rose from the ground and began to spin around Donphan, eventually growing into large, gray stone pillars. The stones soon imbedded themselves in the ground and were buried into the ground. As Donphan was setting up his Stealth Rock, Tyranitar set up its own. Ash had suspected that Tyranitar would set up a Stealth Rock, though, and knew that he would be able to pick his move, for Mia would be loathe to switch a Pokémon into a Stealth Rock. However, he did not want to leave Leaf's Stealth Rock on the battlefield, so he commanded Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away Tyranitar's Stealth Rock!"

Donphan gave a cry and curled itself into a ball and proceeded to roll around the battlefield and clear the Stealth Rock that Tyranitar had laid down. After the rocks were cleared, Donphan rolled straight towards Tyranitar and collided with the large Pokémon, forcing it back a few feet, but only inflicting minimal damage to it. Donphan immediately uncurled himself and Ash ordered, "Donphan, use Earthquake!"

Donphan then stomped the ground, causing it to shake. Just before his feet struck the ground, though, Leaf pulled out Tyranitar's Poké Ball and brought him back without saying a single word. Tyranitar was evacuated from the battlefield just as Donphan's feet slammed into the ground, causing it to shake violently. The shaking caused Leaf to lose her footing and concentrate on remaining upright. She wobbled on the ground, barely able to keep herself from falling until the shaking subsided. Once it had subsided, she called over to her team, saying, "Starmie, I choose you! Go!"

A purple starfish-like Pokémon with a red jewel in its center as its core jumped into the air and spun around as it floated onto the battlefield. It gave a high-pitched, feminine cry, despite being labeled in the official World Pokédex as being genderless. As it landed, several gray rocks emerged from the ground and floated into the air. They spun around Starmie and the Pokémon took to the air to try to evade them. However, the rocks zeroed in on Starmie like magnets and collided with it, causing it to give off a grunt of pain. Starmie quickly landed gracefully and gave a confident cry as it focused on Donphan.

Ash knew that with Starmie having appeared that it was time to bring out another Pokémon. Not wanting to give away the fact that he had a Serperior, as well as the fact that he did not want to reveal his strategy with Serperior, he decided to send in Pikachu. He called back Donphan, crying, "Donphan, return!" Once Donphan was drawn back into his Poké Ball turned to his starter and best friend said, "Are ya ready, Pikachu?"

Pikachu clenched his fingers into fists and gave an enthusiastic, "Pika!"

"Then go!" Ash cried, pointing towards Starmie.

Pikachu rushed onto the battlefield, electricity sparking from his cheeks, eager to take on Starmie. Leaf, however, did not think like Ash and was unwilling to send in a Pokémon that had a type disadvantage unless she either had no other choice, or it was a part of a plan. As Pikachu was summoned to the field, though, Starmie had used Rapid Spin to clear away the rocks from Donphan's Stealth Rock. Now both sides of the field were clear of any entry hazards. Knowing that Leaf would not want it to remain in a situation where it had a significant disadvantage, it retreated from the battlefield. As soon as Starmie had retreated, Garchomp stepped forward, about to jump onto the battlefield when it was stopped by Leaf's cry. "Wait!"

Garchomp stopped in its tracks and it, along with the rest of the team, turned to focus on her. She knew that if Garchomp appeared on the battlefield, that Ash would immediately bring in his Blastoise to deal with it, which she could deal with by using either Jolteon or Venusaur, but she decided to throw him for a loop, and give him the idea that she was beginning to get impatient with all of the switching that was going on. She smirked as she said, "Jolteon, engage."

The dog-like Pokémon stepped onto the battlefield, prompting Ash to grin. She had lost her patience and was challenging the strength of his Pokémon directly with this choice. As Jolteon stepped onto the battlefield, both it and Pikachu were buffeted by the sandstorm, taking minor damage from the attack. It was then that he began to wonder why she had suddenly decided to go this route, rather than keep chipping away at his Pokémon's health with each switch. He also considered sending in another Pokémon to deal with Jolteon, but decided against it, for he, too, was fed up with beating around the bush. He wanted to face her directly for the first time and get this battle going. He would play her game. After all, Pikachu was one of his strongest Pokémon, and he knew that Pikachu could defeat Jolteon. He did not notice Leaf's grin as he kept Pikachu in the battle.

Up in the stands, Delia and the others watched the battle and noticed that Leaf had sent out Jolteon to deal with Pikachu, rather than allowing Garchomp to fight, or even sending in Venusaur. "Looks like she's getting impatient and finally decided to fight Ash up front," Dawn noted with a sense of satisfaction.

"Don't be so sure," Lance cautioned. "Leaf always has a plan. And if you notice, it's Leaf whose grinning right now."

Professor Oak nodded. "And Ash isn't switching to another Pokémon. I fear that he doesn't know what he's in for."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Dawn asked.

"Jolteon's ability is Volt Absorb," Oak explained. "If Pikachu uses his Electric-type moves on Jolteon, Jolteon will merely absorb them and use them to restore its own health. Not only that, but even though Jolteon is restricted to four moves, if it charges up its fur, it can cause its fur to stand on end and become as sharp as needles, making an already not very effective Iron Tail, hazardous for Pikachu to use. And the danger doesn't go away if Pikachu decides to use Quick Attack, either."

"I see," Dawn replied as she focused back on the battlefield below. "Come on, Ash, you can do it," she said waveringly as Pikachu and Jolteon were about to do battle.

Ash initiated the battle when he pointed at Jolteon and yelled, "Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

Pikachu gave a cry as he hunkered down for a few seconds and then launched himself at Jolteon with blinding speed. Jolteon was ready, though, and use a weak Thunderbolt on itself to cause its hair to stand on end and become needle-like. Pikachu scored a direct hit on Jolteon, forcing the dog-like Pokémon back a few steps, but it was Pikachu who came out the worse for the wear. Jolteon's hair had managed to prick Pikachu and, while he was not bleeding, the attack had been quite uncomfortable, giving a grunt of discomfort as he jumped away upon making contact with Jolteon's needle-like fur. Ash quickly realized that he had to come up with a new strategy. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Jolteon's head!"

Pikachu obeyed, charging towards Jolteon as a bright silvery glow flashed around his tail before it appeared to be covered in metal. Jolteon merely stood still as Pikachu attacked and opened its mouth, a purple orb of energy appearing in front of it. All the while, both Pokémon were being buffeted by the sandstorm. As Pikachu approached, he swung his tail at Jolteon, but just before he managed to score a hit, Jolteon sped away from Pikachu, causing Pikachu to hit nothing but air. Once Jolteon was a safe distance away from Pikachu, it unleashed its Shadow Ball towards the electric mouse. Without direction, Pikachu used Quick Attack to speed away from the Shadow Ball, barely managing to avoid it. The ball landed a few feet away, where it gouged a crater into the battlefield, blasting a hole that was at least three meters in diameter and one and a half meters deep. Both Ash and Pikachu's eyes went wide at the power of Jolteon's Shadow Ball. Ash knew that Pikachu would have to make this a ranged battle quickly, for that would be the only real way that he would be able to inflict damage to Jolteon without taking a serious hit in return. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" he cried.

Pikachu complied and powered the electrical attack. Once it was powered, a bolt of lightning was unleashed upon Jolteon. Once the bolt of lightning struck Jolteon, electricity arced across its body, but it inflicted no damage at all. Instead, it healed Jolteon from all of the damage that it had taken from the sandstorm. Once Jolteon was healed, Leaf called out to it, "Jolteon, you've done great. Return!"

Jolteon then ran back to the rest of the team and Leaf opened Tyranitar's Poké Ball and the large Rock/Dark-type emerged. Once he was out, she looked him in the eye and asked, "Are you ready?"

Tyranitar nodded.

"Go!" Leaf said, pointing to Pikachu.

As Tyranitar stepped onto the battlefield, Ash was surprised, as was everyone else, that she had sent out Tyranitar. While Tyranitar was quite powerful, he had no real type advantage over Pikachu, and Jolteon had shown that it was able to neutralize all of Pikachu's electric moves, and was only vulnerable to Quick Attack and Iron Tail, the latter of which had a type disadvantage against Electric-type Pokémon, while Jolteon had at least one powerful ranged attack that could inflict significant damage to Pikachu if it hit.

Ash looked over at Pikachu and said, "I'm through switching. If you want, Tyranitar's yours."

Pikachu gave a grin and cried, "Pika!" Ash took that to mean that Pikachu was ready to go. He then declared, "Alright Pikachu, go and use Thunderbolt on Tyranitar!"

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark as he powered the Thunderbolt. As he did so, Tyranitar set up another Stealth Rock on the battlefield, causing Ash to grimace. As soon as he was finished, Pikachu had unleashed the Thunderbolt on Tyranitar. Electricity arced across Tyranitar's body upon impact and the massive Pokémon demonstrated its discomfort by giving a groan. However, it did not seem to take much damage from Pikachu's attack. Ash grimaced as he saw Tyranitar withstand the attack and then a series of white rings form around him. He knew what came next. He called out to Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"

As the rings were still forming, Pikachu used Quick Attack on Tyranitar and with blinding speed, closed the distance between him and the massive Pokémon. When he hit Tyranitar, the Pokémon barely felt the attack, but that was not Ash's goal. He then cried, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Tyranitar."

A bright white glow immediately engulfed Pikachu's tail and he jumped into the air, flipping forward, trying to bring his tail down on Tyranitar's head. Tyranitar, however, raised his left arm and caught Pikachu's tail, shocking both Pikachu and Ash. With tremendous force, he threw Pikachu to the ground and used Stone Edge on him. Pikachu, however, was quick to recover and managed to avoid the initial barrage of stones using quick attack. Tyranitar, however, had anticipated the point where Pikachu would stop to catch his breath and launched the rest of the stones at that point. One of the stones landed right in front of Pikachu, prompting him to flee from the remainder of the barrage. He managed to avoid a second stone, but the rest of them zeroed in on him and scored direct hits on the Electric-type Pokémon. Each hit forced Pikachu backwards, causing him to grunt with the attack. The last stone sent Pikachu flying into the air and he crashed into the ground a few feet away, skidding to a halt. He quickly recovered, though, and fired off another Thunderbolt at Tyranitar. Again, the increased special defense of Tyranitar due to the sandstorm limited the damage that the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon took, but Pikachu's attack _did_ manage to do something worse to Tyranitar. Yellow sparks of electricity arced across Tyranitar's body as he went to launch another attack but was unable to move. He had been paralyzed. Seeing this, Ash had Pikachu take the initiative, calling, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Tyranitar!"

As soon as the order was given, Pikachu's tail transformed into metal once more and he jumped into the air. He spun around and was about to ram his tail into Tyranitar's head when he was blindsided by an unknown attacker. He felt a weight collide with him abdomen and slam him to the ground. Ash's eyes went wide as he looked out onto the battlefield through the sandstorm and found Leaf, rubber gloves covering her forearms, pinning Pikachu to the ground. Pikachu was struggling against her strength, but she kept her hands on him, pushing most of her weight on him, keeping him pinned. He tried to use Thunderbolt to shock her and give himself an opportunity to get off, but her rubber gloves, a feature that she did not have before, insulated her hands and kept her safe from his attack as she covered his cheeks with her hand. "That won't work on me, Pikachu."

On the ground, Pikachu looked up and saw that his attacker was none other than Leaf, herself, something that greatly surprised him since Trainers rarely entered the battle along with their Pokémon, and never during official tournaments or Elite Four battles. Just then, though, he noticed something else about her that greatly surprised, as well as disturbed him. She smelled very similar to Ash, despite being a girl, and despite the fact that he had never seen her once before, and it was clear that Ash had never met her before, either. His ears perked up as he noticed her smell, and turned his head to look back at Ash, who stood there, frozen. "Yes, Pikachu," Leaf said, confirming his suspicion. "Your suspicions are correct. Now we'll see just how much my brother really cares about you and the others." She then kept him pinned as a large shadow came over the two of them. Looking up, Pikachu saw Tyranitar looming over them, a menacing grin on his face and several circles surrounding his body, a clear sign that he was powering Stone Edge. And with Leaf pinning him flat with her rubber glove-covered hands, he was helpless to do anything to save himself.

Ash watched from the edge of the battlefield, shocked to see Leaf pinning Pikachu to the ground. He had never felt so helpless before. Pikachu struggled to rise, attempting to shock Leaf with a Thunderbolt once more, but failing once again, as several rocks formed on the glowing energy rings around Tyranitar. Tyranitar was slow to power and unleash his attack, looking at Leaf as if he were waiting for orders. Through the sandstorm, Leaf looked up at Ash and glared. "So, are you just going to stand there or help him?" she asked harshly, motioning towards Pikachu.

Ash fingered a Poké Ball and drew it out. He knew that Pikachu did not like Poké Balls, but he also knew that if Pikachu took a direct hit from that Stone Edge, he would suffer a great deal of damage, if not be rendered unable to battle. After a few seconds, Ash decided that it was his only real option to get Pikachu out of danger. "Pikachu, return!" he cried as he held up Pikachu's Poké Ball and fired a red beam at him.

"Wrong move!" Leaf cried as she intercepted the attack, moving between Pikachu and Ash and raising her gloved hand to intercept the red beam. Despite the rubber taking the hit, the beam washed over her and stunned her for a moment. However, even though she was stunned and Pikachu was suddenly able to move, it was not enough to save him, for Tyranitar unleashed the full fury of his Stone Edge on the electric mouse from point blank range. Gray rocks rained down on him, bombarding the Electric-type Pokémon. Pikachu grunted with each hit and tried to focus enough to launch a counterattack in order to stop Tyranitar's assault, but he was too weak.

After a few seconds, the rain of stones mercifully stopped and Pikachu was able to try to move. However, he had suffered a great deal of damage from the attack and was struggling to rise. Leaf eventually backed off a bit, standing next to Tyranitar, who turned to her as if asking whether or not he should finish Pikachu. She replied, "Finish the fight."

Tyranitar nodded and focused on Pikachu, who was unsteady in his gate. Not wanting to waste energy using Stone Edge, Tyranitar ran towards Pikachu, intending to finish him using basic martial arts. Ash, seeing Tyranitar charging Pikachu, called, "Pikachu, return!"

Pikachu immediately turned to Ash and rushed towards him. However, Tyranitar used Pursuit and instantly caught up with Pikachu. He collided with the mouse and sent him flying through the air, and into the wall. Pikachu smashed into the wall, severely cracking it, and sliding down, unconscious. Upon seeing that Pikachu was unconscious, Cynthia held up the green flag and declared, "Pikachu is unable to battle. Tyranitar is the winner!"

Ash rushed over to Pikachu and held him, cradling him in his arms. Pikachu slowly opened his eyes, looking sad, and weakly croaked, "Pikapi." He then winced, in obvious pain from the attack.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and family looked down at the battlefield glumly. "Pikachu lost!" May noted warily. "And Leaf directly fought in that battle!"

"Mm hmm," Professor Oak echoed, nodding. "And from the looks of it, it appeared as if Pikachu and Tyranitar were relatively evenly matched before Leaf entered the battle."

"Ash forgot the rules," Lance said from behind the rest of the group. "He was caught off guard by Leaf entering the battle directly and fighting alongside Tyranitar. Unfortunately, for him, she'll likely see his lack of entering the fight to save Pikachu to mean that he doesn't care about his Pokémon when nothing could be further from the truth. In her mind, actions speak far louder than words."

"How will that affect their battle?" Delia asked.

"It will make her focus more on beating Ash," came Lance's answer. "She's already a Champion Trainer and is far more experienced than Ash in fighting high-level battles like this. Her experience, combined with her powerful Pokémon will give her a significant edge over Ash. However, it's not too late for him to turn the tide. He'll just have to do what she does and truly fight alongside his Pokémon. If he doesn't, then he'll never beat her." He then focused on the battle and quietly said to Ash, "Don't let her accusations get to you. Remember the rules, and trust in your Pokémon friends and you'll be fine."

Back down on the battlefield, Ash cradled Pikachu and looked into his eyes, his face beaming, trying to reassure Pikachu. "You did great Pikachu," he said kindly. "You deserve a good, long, rest."

"He most certainly did better than his useless coward of a Trainer, that's for sure," Leaf scoffed contemptuously from the middle of the battlefield.

Ash turned to face her and glared. "What's the meaning of that, Mia?"

Leaf scoffed, ignoring the use of her given name. "I'm following the rules," she retorted with a shrug. "Trainers are allowed, and expected, to fight alongside the Pokémon they send into battles. They're a team, not master and slave. I guess you aren't as close to Pikachu as you wanted us to think." She then gave a cocky grin.

Her accusation and seeming arrogance infuriated Ash and he cried, "You're wrong! We'll beat you and show you that our bond is strong, stronger than anything!" He then took out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Donphan, I choose you!"

Donphan's Poké Ball then opened, releasing the Ground-type Pokémon onto the battlefield. Just as Donphan appeared, several gray stones rose from the ground, spun around, and converged on him, colliding with him but inflicting minimal damage. Ash then stood there, glaring at Leaf, who merely quipped, "This time, you might actually _want_ to fight alongside your Pokémon." This merely prompted a glare and growl from Ash. The second phase of the battle had begun.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Ash and Leaf continued to glare at each other as Donphan awaited Ash's command. Ash turned to Donphan and commanded, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away the Stealth Rock!"

Donphan curled into a ball and rolled around the battlefield, clearing away the rocks from Tyranitar's Stealth Rock. As Donphan was clearing away the rocks, though, Tyranitar initiated his next attack. A blue ball formed around the Pokémon's fist and he threw an Ice Punch right at Donphan but the Pokémon managed to maneuver around the punch and avoid taking the hit. As the fist struck the ground, a small sheet of ice formed around his fist. Tyranitar then continued to throw more Ice Punches towards Donphan, but the Ground-type Pokémon was able to stay one step ahead of his opponent. Eventually, Tyranitar's body seized up and the attacks stopped and gave Donphan a chance to launch an attack of his own. "Donphan, use Earthquake!" Ash commanded.

Donphan complied and stomped the ground with his two front feet. Immediately upon stomping on the ground, the ground began to shake furiously. Both Leaf and Ash struggled to maintain their footing, the two stumbling forward a bit were able to maintain their footing. The Earthquake was affecting Tyranitar far more noticeably. Since he was part Rock-type, he had a vulnerability to Ground-type attacks like Earthquake and was taking twice the normal amount of damage. Still, despite the damage that he was taking, he was still able to continue the battle.

Leaf, however, was a little more concerned for Tyranitar's safety and she called out to him, "Tyranitar, return!"

Tyranitar looked back at her and shook his head, refusing the command. Leaf grimaced and she commanded again, "Return, Tyranitar. We've had this discussion before!"

Tyranitar then issued a series of growls towards Leaf, who drew out her Pokédex and held it on him. Ash figured that she was using it to translate his language. He decided to take advantage of the argument and told Donphan, "Use Stealth Rock!"

Donphan complied and a series of gray glitters formed around Donphan. After a while, they grew into large, gray stones that imbedded themselves into the ground and buried themselves. Leaf saw Donphan deploy his Stealth Rock and she told Tyranitar, "Return! I need Starmie to clear those rocks. Not only that, but Starmie has an advantage over Donphan. You can't let your pride get the better of you!"

Still, Tyranitar refused, issuing more growls and shaking his head again. Reading the translation, she found that Tyranitar believed that he still had the ability to defeat Donphan and he told her to have faith in him. Seeing that there was little point in continuing the argument, she eventually answered a little harshly, "Fine, have it your way. You want to deal with Donphan, deal with him. But if you get in trouble, I'm pulling you out."

Tyranitar nodded and gave a growl in affirmation. He then turned to focus on Donphan. The first thing he did was to lay down Stealth Rock again, hoping that Ash would try to clear away the rocks, giving him an opening where he could attack. A series of gray glitters formed around Tyranitar, which soon grew into large, gray stones that imbedded themselves into the ground and were buried. As Tyranitar was laying down the Stealth Rock, though, Donphan stomped the ground and performed another Earthquake without direction from Ash. The ground shook violently and a series of rings spread out from the epicenter of the quake, the ground splitting apart and rocks being thrown into the air. Tyranitar nearly fell to the floor after losing his balance. The energy of the ring spread throughout his body and inflicted more damage to him. He fell to one knee and was breathing heavily. Seeing that he was on the ropes, Ash called over to Donphan, "Donphan, use Rapid Spin to clear away those rocks one more time!"

Donphan complied and curled into a ball in order to clear the rocks, but Tyranitar had other ideas. He zeroed in on Donphan just as he curled his hand into a fist and a blue and white ball of energy formed around it once more and he threw an Ice Punch at Donphan. This time, though, his aim was true and he managed to score a direct hit on the Ground-type Pokémon. The punch hit Donphan in the center of mass and a wall of ice expanded from the point of impact. The ice wall expanded and began to encapsulate the elephant-like Pokémon. After a couple seconds, Donphan was completely encased in ice. Tyranitar gave a dark smile and began to approach Donphan, eager to finish off the Pokémon. However, before he could finish the Pokémon, Ash pulled out Donphan's Poké Ball and cried, "Donphan, return!"

The red beam erupted from the Poké Ball, however, before it reached Donphan, Tyranitar used Pursuit once more and rocketed towards the frozen Pokémon, scoring a solid hit on him. Fortunately, though, the ensuing punch that Tyranitar threw did not crack, or shatter, Donphan, though it did inflict significant damage to the Ground-type Pokémon. The red beam soon struck Donphan, transformed him into energy, and drew him back into the ball. Once he had been safely pulled back, he pulled out his Pokédex to check on Donphan's condition. Besides being frozen, he was also very low on health. Had he remained in that battle, it was doubtful that he would have won. Scanning Tyranitar, though, he saw that the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon had also suffered some serious damage, in addition to being paralyzed. Seeing this as his best chance to give Snorlax a chance to awaken, he tossed out his Poké Ball, yelling, "Snorlax, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball opened and Snorlax came out onto the battlefield. As he landed on the field, he fell to the ground, still asleep and snoring audibly. A smile was plastered onto his face. As he came onto the battlefield, though, rocks rose from the ground, spun around the sleeping Pokémon, and slammed into him, inflicting more damage. Ash looked over at Leaf and her eyes were wide with shock for a few seconds before a look of comprehension crossed her face and she began to understand Ash's plan. She gave Ash a dark grin, and then turned to Tyranitar and told him, "Tyranitar, finish Snorlax quickly before he gets a chance to awaken!"

Tyranitar charged forward, preparing to launch his next attack when he his body suddenly seized up and he fell to one knee, electricity arcing across his body. Ash issued a silent prayer of thanks that Tyranitar was suffering from his paralysis. He called out to Snorlax, crying, "Wake up! You've gotta wake up before Tyranitar manages to attack again!"

Still, Snorlax could not hear Ash's pleas. Tyranitar, taking Leaf's advice went on the attack, a ring of gray rocks surrounding his body as made ready his attack on the sleeping Snorlax. Seeing Tyranitar's ring of rocks in preparation for using Stone Edge, Ash cried once more, "Snorlax, wake up!"

Ash's call got through to the massive Pokémon, for as soon as he had made the cry, and Tyranitar had launched the rocks towards Snorlax, the sleeping Pokémon awakened and jumped away from the attack. A look of shock crossed Tyranitar's face and suddenly, a blue light shown forth from the area on the ground that Snorlax was standing on in order to ensure that no subsequent attack that had freezing as a side effect would freeze the Pokémon. The stones landed a ways away from Snorlax, throwing up a large cloud of dust and leaving several holes in the battlefield, but the rotund Pokémon had escaped taking damage. Snorlax then charged Tyranitar, curling the fingers on his left arm into a fist and a bluish-white ball of energy formed around the fist. He quickly arrived at the Pokémon, knocking away the few rocks that were remaining in Tyranitar's Stone Edge attack and punched Tyranitar with an Ice Punch. The punch sent Tyranitar staggering backwards a several steps but it failed to freeze the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. Tyranitar was far from finished, though.

A blue ball appeared around his fist and he prepared to launch an Ice Punch, himself at Snorlax, prompting a concerned look from Leaf, since she knew it would not freeze him solid and had a chance of not inflicting much damage should Snorlax have Thick Fat as his ability. Snorlax took in a deep breath and bellowed, "Snore," as he used Curse to increase his own attack and defense, at the cost of his speed. Tyranitar then unleashed the Ice Punch, which connected with Snorlax's head. The attack forced Snorlax back several feet but did not inflict a great deal of damage on him.

Snorlax curled his hands into a fist once more, with a bluish-white glow surrounding the fist, and threw another punch at Tyranitar's head. Tyranitar ducked and the fist sailed over his head. Tyranitar countered again and he threw another Ice Punch, which shocked Leaf. As he threw the punch, Snorlax used Curse again to raise his attack and defense even more, though cutting his speed even more in the process. The attack scored a direct hit on Snorlax's head, but he did not sustain any real damage since Snorlax had increased his defense to such high levels. Leaf grimaced at Tyranitar's recklessness. "Tyranitar, don't use your close combat attacks if your opponent has increased his defense," she roared. "Use your strong ranged physical attacks like Stone Edge, instead!"

Tyranitar growled at Leaf's admonition and continued to close the distance with Snorlax and engage in hand-to-hand combat, rather than back away and take advantage of ranged attacks, and Snorlax's lack of speed. "No!" Leaf roared. "Use Stone Edge!"

Seeing that Tyranitar was not obeying her and that Snorlax was drawing back his fist for an Ice Punch that would almost certainly hit Tyranitar, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She pulled out Tyranitar's Poké Ball and yelled, "Tyranitar, return!" A red beam was shot from her Poké Ball and it struck Tyranitar, converting him to energy, and drew him into the ball. Once he had been drawn back into his ball, she let him out so he could rejoin the rest of her team. Once he was let out, she glared at him and admonished, "Don't do that ever again, or I'll let you stay in and get KOed by the enemy!" She then looked over her team and eventually settled on sending out Chandelure as her Pokémon of choice for dealing with Snorlax. "Chandelure, go!" she cried, harshly pointing towards Snorlax. Despite her harsh tone, her anger was reserved only for Tyranitar, and she was sorely tempted to put him in a battle that he was he was certain to lose later on as punishment. She shook off the feeling and took a few deep breaths in order to calm herself down. She would worry about dealing with Tyranitar later. Right now, she had to focus on Chandelure and give it directions should it be necessary.

Chandelure floated out onto the battlefield and as it did so, pillars of stone rose from the ground, orbited the Pokémon, and then collided with it, inflicting noticeable damage to the chandelier-like Pokémon. The Pokémon recoiled and gave a grunt of pain. As Chandelure recovered and focused on Snorlax, Ash found that he had a choice to make. He could either recall Snorlax and send out a frozen Donphan, hoping to defrost him, but negate any buffs that Snorlax had built up with Curse, or keep Snorlax out in his powered up, but slower, state and hope that he could close the distance with Chandelure before Chandelure eventually wore him down. Eventually, he decided that it would be best to keep out Snorlax, hoping that Chandelure would use a Fire-type attack and give him a chance to switch Donphan into the fire attack so he could be defrosted. He called out to Snorlax, "Okay Snorlax, use Ice Punch on Chandelure!"

Chandelure closed its eyes and began to glow, indicating that it was using Calm Mind, as Snorlax pulled back his fist, a bluish-white glow surrounding the fist, as he charged towards the chandelier-like Pokémon. Snorlax gave a cry as he threw his attack, but Chandelure quickly floated up and over Snorlax's punch. Several rings of glowing gray balls emerged from Chandelure and were unleashed upon Snorlax at point blank range. The balls struck Snorlax in the head, sending him sprawling backwards. Ash grimaced as Snorlax took the hit. "Snorlax, no!" he cried as Snorlax rolled a few feet backwards. Still, he had managed to get Chandelure into position, for the chandelier-like Pokémon was beginning to power a fire-type attack. He soon saw a blast of fire in the shape of a human erupt from Chandelure and streak towards Snorlax. This was his chance. "Snorlax, return!" he yelled as he pulled out his Poké Ball and returned Snorlax to the ball. He then threw out another Poké Ball and cried, "Donphan, go!"

The frozen form of Donphan emerged from his Poké Ball and landed directly in the path of the Fire Blast. The blast of fire scored a direct hit on Donphan and immediately defrosted the Ground-type Pokémon. However, the attack was so powerful, due to the Calm Mind power up, that it did not only defrost Donphan, but it still managed to inflict some damage as well. After defrosting, Donphan slumped towards the ground a bit, but managed to maintain his footing. Still, he was panting heavily from the damage that he had already suffered, and the Stealth Rock hit that he sustained, despite him having a type advantage against the attack, still hurt. Still, he was now defrosted and he would be able to defend himself against attack.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends and mother intensely watched the battle. Their eyes were focused on the battlefield, and their ears tuned to the announcer. The announcer was waxing about the brilliance of Ash's strategy for defrosting Donphan. "Wow, that was a brilliant move on Ash's part," Dawn said, reiterating the thoughts of the announcer.

The others had merely breathed a sigh of relief after seeing how both Tyranitar and Chandelure were inflicting significant damage to Snorlax. Professor Oak and Lance were not so sure, though. "We'll see," Oak said guardedly. "While Donphan was defrosted, Chandelure's Calm Mind did allow it to power up its special attack and special defense abilities by quite a bit. And with Thick Fat as his ability, Snorlax is on relatively even footing with Chandelure in a fight, especially since its special defense is already quite high."

"Yeah, but Donphan has an advantage over Chandelure since he knows Stone Edge, doesn't he?" May asked.

Professor Oak nodded. "Indeed, but he still has to take advantage of this edge, and hope that Leaf does not know what he is thinking."

"Why hasn't Ash brought out his two remaining Pokémon yet?" Delia asked. "If he has a Water-type, it would be perfect to use against Chandelure."

"There's more to a Pokémon battle than just type advantages," Tracey interjected. "Anyone who travels with Ash knows that firsthand."

"Yeah, but I don't see what disadvantages that a Water-type would have against Chandelure," Delia continued.

"Especially since none of Ash's Water-type Pokémon are part Psychic-type, either, as far as I know," May added. "And all of them have ranged water attacks, something that would be useful against Chandelure. Ash also needs to have Donphan remove Stealth Rock, so it would be foolish to lose him here."

"I know," Professor Oak agreed, nodding. "Let's just hope that he plays it smart."

Back down on the battlefield, Ash called over to Donphan, "Can you keep going?"

Donphan gave a cry and raised his trunk into the air. Ash took that to mean that he was still able to battle. "Okay, then, use Stone Edge!"

Donphan complied and several rings began to form around the elephant-like Pokémon. As they formed, several loose stones rose up from the ground and began to orbit Donphan. Once a large number of stones had been pulled from the ground, he launched them towards Chandelure. However, as he had been powering up his Stone Edge, though, the Fire/Ghost-type Pokémon had been preparing to launch a Fire Blast of its own. It unleashed a massive blast of fire from its center, the blast headed straight for Donphan. As it was being fired, Donphan unleashed his Stone Edge on the chandelier-like Pokémon. The two attacks collided in midair and remained suspended for a few moments before the greater power of Chandelure's Fire Blast began to make headway on Donphan's Stone Edge. From the sideline, Ash called over to Donphan in support, "You can do it, Donphan!"

Leaf also called over to Chandelure in warning, "Watch out for any stones that manage to get past the fire!" Sure enough, just as with the first Stone Edge used against Chandelure, a few of the stones that were not fired directly into the path of the Fire Blast flew unabated towards Chandelure. Chandelure took several direct hits from the stones, but most of the stones were focused towards the Fire Blast, which was slowly making its way towards Donphan. After a while, Donphan was running out of stones and the blast of fire had not been extinguished. Once the last group of stones had been fired, missing the Fire Blast completely, but managing to score direct hits on Chandelure, the Fire Blast rocketed forward unabated towards Donphan.

"Donphan, dodge it, quick!" Ash called out in warning, but it was too late. The Fire Blast attack scored a direct hit on him and exploded, sending him flying. Donphan landed a few feet away and rolled along the ground. Once the attack was finished, he tried to rise, pushing as hard as he could so he could stand up and continue the fight but it was not to be. He promptly collapsed onto the ground and remained there for ten seconds. Ash looked at Donphan and then glanced across the battlefield and saw that Chandelure was on the ground. Leaf was standing over the Pokémon, swirls in its eyes, indicating that it was unable to battle. The last volley of rocks from the Stone Edge had managed to knock out Chandelure. Either that, or the sandstorm took out the last bit of Chandelure's remaining health just before dispersing. Ash looked over at Donphan and said, "You did great. You deserve a long rest."

Cynthia then raised both flags and declared, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle! The battle is two-to-one in favor of Leaf!"

Looking down at the battle, hope was returning to the hearts of Ash's friends and mother. "He did it!" Dawn exclaimed. "He took down Chandelure! And with Tyranitar having taken heavy damage and suffering from paralysis, he may be able to pull this off!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Lance cautioned. "Tyranitar is not out of this yet, and Ash lost his one Pokémon that we know knows Rapid Spin."

"But Leaf didn't clear Ash's Stealth Rock so her Pokémon will take damage from it now while Ash won't have to worry about that," May interjected.

"But her strongest Pokémon isn't incredibly weak to Rock-type attacks," Professor Oak countered. "Charizard, on the other hand, is. Stealth Rock won't hurt her nearly as much as it will Ash and his team, particularly Charizard, who has a quadruple type disadvantage against it."

That gave the Dawn and May something to consider. Professor Oak, Tracey, and Delia merely focused on the battle below. They knew that it was coming to a head. Whichever moves the combatants made from here on out, would likely decide the outcome of the battle.

Back on the field of battle, Leaf was the first to choose her combatant. "Starmie, go!"

Starmie then jumped into the air and floated onto the battlefield, giving a cry as it entered the battle, and was promptly smashed by a series of rocks. Starmie was quick to recover, though, and focused on Ash's side of the field. Ash saw Mia's choice and carefully weighed his options. He knew that Starmie was quite powerful and could field a tremendous array of attacks, including Ice-type and Electric-type attacks. While Ash still had two Pokémon that had a clear advantage over Starmie, he still had a feeling that Starmie was ready for anything that would come its way and it would be hazardous to try to go with the type advantage. Seeing Leaf glare at him, as if waiting for him to choose his next Pokémon, almost daring him to use the one Pokémon that had an advantage over Starmie, made his decision much easier. Eventually, he decided to take a risk and called out, "Snorlax, I choose you!"

Snorlax's Poké Ball sailed through the air and it opened, releasing the large Pokémon once more. Snorlax landed on the ground with a stomp and the ground began to shake. Snorlax then gave a confident cry. Ash knew exactly what Mia was planning as Starmie began to spin around in an effort to clear away the stones of Stealth Rock. This would be his best chance to inflict some real damage on Starmie. Ash called over to Snorlax, ordering, "Snorlax, use Body Slam on Starmie when it gets close!" He knew that Snorlax was not the fastest Pokémon in the world, but he was definitely fast for his size and was quite capable of hitting Starmie. However, Starmie proved to be quite fast, itself, and managed to evade Snorlax's attempts at crushing it when it got close to him. While Snorlax futilely tried to score a hit on the much faster and more evasive Starmie, the starfish-like Pokémon plowed through the rocks, shattering them with single hits. Eventually, Ash saw that this was no good and he told Snorlax, "Use Ice Punch!" He knew that Ice-type attacks were not very effective against Water-type Pokémon, but Ice Punch had a chance of freezing Starmie and if he could freeze it solid, he could hopefully force another, less versatile, Pokémon to come out and face his team.

Snorlax threw an Ice Punch towards Starmie, but the attack sailed over the spinning Pokémon. As soon as it had sailed over the Pokémon, Starmie turned to attack. It fired a vicious stream of water from its core, which struck Snorlax squarely in the face. Snorlax gave a grunt of surprise and discomfort as he was forced onto his back.

"Snorlax, get up!" Ash called as he noticed Starmie floated away from Snorlax so it could attack from a safe distance. Once it had floated away, yellow sparks of electricity began to crackle across its body as it prepared a Thunderbolt attack. Ash called to Snorlax, "Snorlax, use Body Slam on Starmie, one more time!" However, he said it in a way that Snorlax knew meant that he should launch another attack shortly after he used Body Slam. He had a feeling that Starmie would merely float away as Snorlax attempted to land on it. Sure enough, Starmie did just as Ash had expected, but just as Snorlax collided with the ground, he pushed his fist forward and tried to connect with a quick Ice Punch. Starmie had been expecting such a ploy, however, and jumped above the attack as it unleashed its Thunderbolt on Snorlax. Snorlax gave a groan as electricity arced across his body and his body began to seize up. Snorlax was paralyzed.

"Snorlax, use Rest!" Ash directed, knowing that Rest would allow Snorlax to recover from the damage that he had taken, as well as get rid of his paralysis. Unfortunately, Snorlax's body seized up and he was unable to move, the Pokémon grunting as he tried to rest. Starmie took advantage of his immobility by firing off another Hydro Pump at Snorlax. Since Starmie was only a few feet away, there was no way it could miss. The attack struck Snorlax in the face and sent him sprawling to the ground and rolling along towards Ash. Ash scurried out of the way as the massive Pokémon rolled by. Starmie was not finished yet, though. It followed up with a second Thunderbolt, and that was all that Snorlax could take. Snorlax let out a cry as the bolt of lightning struck him, electricity arcing across his body. After a few seconds, the electrical attack stopped and Snorlax was lying still, his chest still rising and falling, indicating that he was alive, but he was in no condition to continue battling. After ten seconds, Cynthia held up the green flag, proclaiming, "Snorlax is unable to battle. Starmie is the winner!" Ash could hear the crowd cheer as he recalled Snorlax. "You did great, Snorlax. You deserve a good rest," he said to the Poké Ball. He then clipped the ball to his belt.

As soon as Snorlax had been returned to his Poké Ball, Cynthia then spoke once more. "Three of Ash's Pokémon are unable to battle. As such, it is time to change the battlefield."

Up in the audience, Ash's friends were beginning to worry. "Oh no," May murmured. "Snorlax was beaten without taking down any of Leaf's Pokémon. He was one of Ash's strongest Pokémon."

Dawn echoed May's sentiments. Professor Oak, however, sagely advised them, saying, "Don't count him out, yet. The battle is far from over."

"It won't be if Ash doesn't get his act together," Dawn stated worriedly. "Can't he see that Leaf's strategy is to attack from long range with special attacks while letting Stealth Rock chip away at his Pokémon and deter him from using Charizard? If he doesn't do something to counter her strategy, this battle will be over before he knows it."

"This isn't the only tight spot that Ash has found himself in," Tracey interjected. "He's gotten out of worse situations than this."

"Yeah, but not against the World Pokémon League Champion," Dawn countered, her concern clearly evident. "This type of hole is a lot harder to climb out of against high level opponents."

"Yeah, but don't forget that Ash has inflicted a lot of damage to Leaf's Tyranitar," May stated. "And if he takes down Tyranitar, then Leaf won't likely have any other Pokémon that can use Stealth Rock. So all he has to do is get rid of this Stealth Rock and he should be okay."

"Assuming Ash has another Pokémon that can use Rapid Spin or Defog," Lance countered with a smirk, indicating that he knew something that the others did not.

The group then turned their attention towards the scoreboard as it was about to choose the next battlefield that Ash and Leaf would be battling on.

Starmie retreated back to the rest of the team, but was certain to stay at Leaf's side as the scoreboard showed the various types of fields that were available for choosing. The grass field, which was currently selected, was blacked out, showing that it was not available as a choice. The spinner appeared on the screen and began to spin around. The spinner continued to spin for several seconds until it began to slow down. After a couple more seconds, it came to a stop on the image of a water/ice field. Ash gave a grin while Leaf grimaced. Only Starmie would benefit from a water field, while her other Pokémon would be restricted in their movements, making them easier targets. Leaf knew that she would have to be careful in this next phase of the battle.

The two combatants watched as the hologram of the grass field disappeared and was quickly replaced by a pool of water with a single island in the center, and several icebergs all throughout the pool. Leaf almost gave a sigh of relief. It was not so bad after all. Only Tyranitar would have issues here, and she could simply wait it out and not use him unless absolutely necessary. As such, since it was a water/ice field, she decided to keep Starmie out and told it, "Go!" Starmie immediately jumped into the air and to the center island.

Ash, however, was considering his options. He knew that Charizard was out of the question, since Starmie was a Water-type Pokémon. That left his two unrevealed Pokémon. Deciding to go with a Pokémon that had a type advantage, he took out a Poké Ball and yelled, "Sceptile, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball arced in the air and opened. A blob of blue energy emerged from the ball and landed on the side of the pool. The energy soon transformed and a green bipedal lizard-like Pokémon that had a red lower jaw and band around his waist, six yellow seed-like nodules on his back, a palm tree branch-like tail, and a twig in his mouth. Its face and the upper part of its neck were white and there were dark green extensions spread out from the lower part of its neck, forming a curling pattern down the body. The extensions resembled a collar. As Sceptile appeared on the battlefield, a deep, throaty cry of, "Sceptile," came from the Pokémon. Ash knew that it was risky to use Sceptile now, especially since Starmie likely had an Ice-type attack, but he felt as if Sceptile's type advantage over Starmie would even things out since his attacks would get a same type attack bonus (or STAB). Also, while he would not have dreamed of using Sceptile while he had only had access to Bullet Seed or Solar Beam as Grass-type ranged attacks, Leaf Storm gave him some more options. Pointing to Starmie, Ash cried, "Sceptile, use Leaf Storm!"

Sceptile gave a cry and stood erect as leaves the same color as his body appeared around him with green outlines and were then fired directly at Starmie. Starmie countered by firing a beam of ice from one of its arms at the incoming storm of leaves. Several of the leaves were frozen in a block of ice, but some of them managed to get around the Ice Beam and score a direct hit on Starmie. Starmie recoiled from the leaf strikes, giving a high-pitched cry as it fell backwards. The starfish-like Pokémon then jumped into the water and submerged itself beneath the surface of the water. Sceptile went to charge after Starmie, eager to finish it off, not fearing the water. "NO!" Ash cried as Sceptile prepared to jump into the water, for he saw Leaf grinning on the other side of the field. Sceptile quickly stopped, awaiting Ash's next order.

"Power a Solar Beam while Starmie hides!" he commanded. "Be prepared to move at a moment's notice, though.

Sceptile nodded and waited for the Solar Beam to power up all the way. Once it was fully powered, Ash cried, "Now, fire it at the water!"

Sceptile obeyed and unleashed a bright yellow beam of energy right at the water. While Grass-type attacks were super effective against Water-type Pokémon, natural, or holographic, water, could reflect the light off of the water's surface, though enough heat could still cause the water to either evaporate, or become boiling hot, which was Ash's plan. Ash grinned as he saw steam rising from the water. Starmie must have been feeling the heat and he knew that Starmie would strike soon. He cautioned Sceptile, "Be careful of Starmie's counterattacks. There's no way it'll let us boil it down there."

His advice was taken as a stream of near scalding hot water came jetting towards Sceptile. The bipedal lizard-like Pokémon quickly jumped into the air, allowing the scalding Hydro Pump to sail beneath him. He countered with another Solar Beam. The beam surged towards the water and breached the surface, rocketing towards Starmie like a torpedo despite the fact that the water was refracting some of the light. The beam scored a direct hit on Starmie and, despite the fact that it was weakened by having to travel through water, it still inflicted noticeable damage on Starmie.

Seeing that staying in the water was not helping the situation, Starmie jumped from the water and landed on the small island in the middle of the pool. Once it landed, it stumbled forward and had difficulty maintaining its footing. Ash saw this as his chance and he told Sceptile, "Sceptile, finish it up with Leaf Storm!"

Sceptile complied and another flurry of leaves formed around the Pokémon. Starmie was not out of the fight yet, though, and just as Sceptile launched his Leaf Storm, Starmie launched an Ice Beam at Sceptile. Both attacks crossed the distance between their respective users and their targets, the Ice Beam plowing through a central line of leaves, encasing them in a block of ice but not managing to freeze the rest of the leaves, which scored direct hits on Starmie. As for Sceptile, Starmie's Ice Beam struck him squarely in the chest and a wall of ice spread out from the center of the blast, but the wall did not close around him. He backed away from the wall as it fell and shattered. Sceptile was still shivering due to the ice and a blue glow showed on his front, but he was still able to battle. The same could not be said for Starmie, who had been knocked into the water by Sceptile's weakened, though still powerful, Leaf Storm. Starmie remained submerged for a few seconds before resurfacing, its red jewel core flickering before going out, indicating that it had fainted. Cynthia held up a red flag, proclaiming, "Starmie is unable to battle. Sceptile wins!"

The audience erupted into cheers as the victor was declared. Leaf pulled out her Poké Ball and recalled Starmie back to her. When she did so, she told Starmie, "You did great. Get some rest. The others will pick up where you left off."

Up in the audience, Ash's friends and his mother were cheering as the battle seemed to be turning, for the moment. "Wow," Dawn exclaimed. "He did it! He scored a victory against her without losing a Pokémon in the process."

"Don't get too cocky," Lance warned. "It was only a minute or so ago when things were looking really dire for Ash and you were worried that this battle would end very quickly. Things can change in an heartbeat in these types of battles."

"Yeah, but we already know all of Leaf's Pokémon," May countered. "Leaf has yet to see all of Ash's Pokémon, or the abilities of all of Ash's Pokémon. Leaf, however, has shown a great deal of her Pokémon's abilities in this battle so Ash knows what he's facing."

"But knowing is only half the battle," Lance countered. "And Ash lost half of his team in the process. Leaf still has four of her Pokémon ready to go; and each of her remaining Pokémon is both powerful and versatile. It won't be easy for either of them."

The others nodded. Tracey looked over at Delia and noticed that she had been quiet throughout most of the match. Professor Oak also noticed this and asked her, "Delia, what do you think about the battle, so far?"

The question caught Ash's mother off guard, for she had been focusing on Ash and Leaf, noticing some sort of resemblance between the two of them, particularly in their stance and even in their looks a bit. However, what she seemed to recognize in Leaf was that her eyes looked very much like her husband's, and she did not know whether that was a good sign or bad. She looked over at Ash and noticed that he was a lot more focused in this battle than he had ever seemed to be before. He had always been her little dumpling, a ten year-old boy to her who had just left on his Pokémon journey. However, today, there was something different. She saw him maturing before her very eyes. He was not the impetuous youth that he had been in so many other regions, particularly when he had started his journey and when he had gone off to Unova. While she felt that she should have been proud of him, and she was, she also wondered why this sudden change seemed to be taking place. Eventually, she remembered that Professor Oak had asked her a question and she looked over at him, noticing that he was awaiting her answer. "Oh, uh, I think it's…good," she answered awkwardly, not knowing what to say. She did not want to voice all of her conflicting thoughts at this moment and give them something to worry about, something that Ash might pick up on and cause him to lose his concentration. Quickly looking at the scoreboard to see the score, she added, "I think that it could go either way at the moment, but I feel as if Ash will pull through and win this."

"I hope you're right," Professor Oak said. The group then sat and watched as the battle continued.

Back on the floor, Leaf had already released Starmie from its Poké Ball and set it down next to Chandelure. The two Pokémon would be able to watch as the battle continued. She then looked over that the Pokémon that were still able to battle and called out, "Garchomp, join the fight!" Garchomp then jumped from the sidelines and onto the island at the center of the pool.

Seeing that Sceptile would have a difficult fight ahead of him against Garchomp, and since he had taken a direct hit from Starmie's Ice Beam, Ash pulled out his Poké Ball and called, "Sceptile, return!" Again, a red beam emerged from the Poké Ball and struck Sceptile, transforming him into energy, and drawing him back into the ball. Once he was recalled, he gazed at his Poké Ball, smiling, and told him, "You were awesome out there, Sceptile." He then took out another Poké Ball and tossed it onto the field, exclaiming, "Blastoise, I choose you!"

The Poké Ball sailed into the air and opened. Out came a large, blue, turtle-like Pokémon with two gray hydro cannons protruding from a thick brown shell. As he emerged, from his Poké Ball, he cried in a deep, masculine voice, "Blastoise!"

As soon as Blastoise emerged from his Poké Ball, several gray stones emerged from the ground and quickly orbited the turtle-like Pokémon. They then converged on the Pokémon and smashed into him, causing the Pokémon to recoil and grunt from discomfort. Ash then called, "Blastoise, use Rapid Spin to clear away the Stealth Rock!"

Blastoise nodded and curled into his shell, gliding across the ground. As he did so, he slammed into each of the stones and shattered them upon impact. Meanwhile, Garchomp took advantage of this momentary lull in the battle to spin around and power herself up using Swords Dance. As soon as Garchomp had powered herself up with Swords Dance, a red aura outlined the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, along with her eyes glowing red. She then rushed towards Blastoise with reckless abandon as she used Outrage on Blastoise. This was an unfortunate mistake on Garchomp's part as her charge was in a straight line, giving Blastoise a chance to line up a shot on her. "Blastoise, use Ice Beam!" Ash cried.

Leaf looked on as Garchomp charged and cried, "No Garchomp, use Earthquake instead!" It was of no use, though, since Garchomp had already initiated the attack. As she approached Blastoise, the tortoise-like Pokémon opened his mouth and a bluish-white ball of energy formed in front of it. A single blue beam emerged from the ball, targeting the charging Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon. Miraculously, the Ice Beam attack missed Garchomp by inches, Garchomp's Sand Veil ability saving the Pokémon from her own recklessness, for the moment. As soon as the attack missed, Garchomp swept her arm and shark fin-like appendage towards Blastoise, scoring a direct hit on the Pokémon. Blastoise was sent skidding back a few feet from the hit, the attack inflicting noticeable damage. Still, Blastoise was not out of the fight yet.

He quickly recovered and took aim at Garchomp once more. Again, he targeted the outraged Pokémon and fired his Ice Beam once more. This time, he managed to score a direct hit on Garchomp. The beam stopped Garchomp in her tracks for a few moments and inflicted massive damage on the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, which had a quadruple weakness to Ice-type attacks. The blast of ice struck Garchomp in the chest and a wall of ice formed in front of her. Despite suffering a direct hit from the Ice Beam, Garchomp continued her charge. She smashed down the wall of ice that had formed in front of her and continued on towards Blastoise once more. She threw another punch at Blastoise, but the tortoise managed to duck underneath the first blow and fire another Ice Beam at Garchomp. Unfortunately, this beam missed as well, sailing wide left of Garchomp, and landing dangerously close to Leaf, forcing her to back away.

After this attack had failed, Garchomp continued on her rampage, catching sight of Ash and the still fainted Pikachu. She charged towards them, drawing back her fist in preparation for attack. She threw her fist, but Ash managed to dodge it. He then threw an ineffective punch on Garchomp, which the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon barely felt. However, the punch had done its job, for Garchomp was now focusing on Ash, rather than Pikachu, or Blastoise. However, Blastoise was not finished and he launched another attack on Garchomp, firing a pulse of water from his water cannons. The streams of water blew through the sands that were buffeting him and managed to score a hit on Garchomp, sending her flying towards the wall. The hit not only inflicted significant damage to Garchomp, but also caused her to turn his attention away from Ash and back onto him.

When Garchomp focused on the tortoise-like Pokémon, the red aura died down around her and her eyes seemingly returned to normal. However, the Pokémon appeared to wobble as she made her way towards her opponent, and attacked everything around her, including herself. Garchomp was suffering from confusion due to the effects of Outrage. Despite her confusion, though, she still managed to remain lucid enough to use Earthquake as one of her attacks. Seismic shockwaves were sent through the ground, cracking and splitting it as rings of energy expanded from the location where Garchomp was standing. Blastoise steadied himself and groaned as the Earthquake inflicted significant damage to him. After a few seconds, the attack was over and Blastoise was breathing heavily. Despite the type advantage he possessed, Garchomp's Sand Veil ability had managed to make this battle significantly more difficult than it should have been, and the Sandstorm that had been raging was also taking its toll on Blastoise. Still, the tortoise was not out of the fight yet.

He targeted Garchomp once more and fired another Ice Beam at the confused Pokémon. The beam erupted from Blastoise's mouth and crossed the distance between the tortoise-like Pokémon and the Land Shark Pokémon. The Ice Beam scored a direct hit on Garchomp and was the deciding move in the battle. Garchomp was forced backwards after taking the direct hit and landed on the ground hard, ice forming around the abdomen of the body. As she hit the ground, the ice cracked and shattered, but it did Garchomp little good as she had already fainted. Seeing that Garchomp was unable to continue fighting, Cynthia raised the red flag for Ash and declared, "Garchomp is unable to battle. Blastoise is the winner!"

The audience gave a standing ovation for Ash and Blastoise as Blastoise rushed back over to Ash. Leaf returned Garchomp to his Poké Ball and then released her, allowing her to rest alongside the other Pokémon that had fainted in the battle. Once she had made certain that Garchomp was comfortable, she looked back at Ash and smirked. He was tougher than she thought he would be. His Pokémon were strong. But her Pokémon were tough, too, and they did not rely on her to give verbal commands the same way Ash's Pokémon did. After a moment, Cynthia then proclaimed, "Since three Pokémon of Leaf's are unable to battle, we will have another battlefield change."

Up in the stands, hope was returning to Ash's friends since the battle was now even once more. "He's doing it!" Dawn proclaimed. "He might actually be able to pull this off!"

"Yes, he might," Lance echoed in reply, looking down at the battlefield as Leaf recalled Garchomp. He was a little surprised that she had kept Garchomp in the fight when Blastoise had been summoned, but Garchomp had inflicted significant damage to Blastoise, meaning that it was likely that Leaf's next Pokémon would be able to take him down. Not only that, but both Blastoise and Sceptile had taken some serious hits. Only Charizard was still fresh, though Lance knew firsthand that Charizard was a difficult opponent to defeat.

He looked over at the others and saw that they were fixated on the battlefield, despite the fact that it was in the midst of a field change. He then continued to look on. This next phase of the battle would be the deciding phase of the battle.

The scoreboard above the battlefield soon showed a circle with pizza slices showing the various types of fields that could be chosen. The water field was blacked out since it was already in play. A spinner soon appeared and began to spin around. After a few seconds, it began to slow down, and after a couple more seconds, it landed on the triangle that showed a forest scene. The pool and island immediately disappeared and pillars of light rose from the ground as tactile holograms of a forest setting, complete with a tree house in one of the trees. Leaf grimaced at the selection of the forest setting as the final stage. _So now the forest is selected_ , she thought sarcastically, knowing that the forest setting would have been put to great use by Garchomp and possibly even by Starmie. Looking at Ash, she called out to him, declaring, "This is it, Ash Ketchum. Now, we will see who is the true World Pokémon League Champion!"

Ash returned her gaze and replied, "Yes, we will! And I'll win, Mia!"

Leaf smiled at the use of her given name. "We'll see," she replied as she looked over to her Pokémon. "Jolteon, stand by for battle!" she called in a tone reminiscent of one who was in the military. The dog-like Pokémon obeyed and rushed onto the battlefield. Jolteon then stared down Blastoise and gave a confident cry as the final phase of the battle had begun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

As Jolteon stepped forward to begin the battle, Ash held out Blastoise's Poké Ball and recalled him, calling, "Blastoise, return!" Blastoise retreated back into his Poké Ball and once he was safely inside, Ash beamed at the ball and said, "You were amazing, Blastoise. You deserve a good rest." He then gripped another Poké Ball and called, "Sceptile, I choose you!" He tossed the Poké Ball into the air and Sceptile emerged from it, appearing on the battlefield and giving a cry.

Upon seeing Ash switch Pokémon, she cried out to Jolteon, "Sceptile's a Grass-type Pokémon; fight accordingly!"

Jolteon gave a cry of, "Jolt," in addition to a nod of affirmation, indicating that it had heard Leaf's warning.

After hearing that Jolteon was being warned of Sceptile's type, he did not want to take any chances. "Sceptile, use Leaf Storm on Jolteon!" he cried.

Sceptile gave a nod and looked over at Jolteon. A flurry of leaves appeared and orbited the bipedal lizard-like Pokémon. Then, as one, they rocketed towards the dog-like Electric-type Pokémon. As the leaves rocketed towards Jolteon, the Electric-type Pokémon unleashed a series of blue orbs in front of it. The orbs orbited Jolteon for a few seconds before being fired directly at the leaves that were rushing towards him. The orbs collided with the leaves, plowing through them with ease, and headed straight for Sceptile. Being taken off guard by the attack, Sceptile suffered a direct hit. The orbs collided with the lizard-like Pokémon and forced him backwards with each hit. He landed a few feet away and rolled to a halt. After he had come to a halt, he attempted to rise, only to find himself unable to do so. As he struggled to rise, he was then blasted by a Thunderbolt by Jolteon. Electricity arced around Sceptile's body for several seconds and continued to do so even after the Thunderbolt had ceased.

Ash watched the battle, grimacing with the Hidden Power hit that Sceptile had taken, followed by the Thunderbolt. He surmised that the Hidden Power was either of the Ice or Fire-type since it had been so effective against the Grass-type Pokémon. He watched as Sceptile struggled to rise, electricity still arcing across his body. As he rose, he quickly fell back to the ground, obviously paralyzed. However, he was not finished yet. Knowing that it would be risky to use Leaf Storm at the moment, but feeling that he could not rely on Solar Beam, he ordered "Sceptile, use Leaf Storm on Jolteon!"

Sceptile obeyed and multiple leaves formed around him as he powered up the attack. He then launched them towards Jolteon, who quickly ducked behind one of the trees. Sceptile, however, was undaunted and he directed his leaves to follow Jolteon. They sliced through weaker tree branches and some of them managed to score glancing hits on Jolteon. The others were imbedded into the tree that Jolteon had taken cover behind, and stuck in the bark.

Jolteon looked back at Leaf, who motioned for it to find a way to retreat from the battle quickly. To that end, a ball of electricity formed in front of Jolteon's mouth and it fired on Sceptile. Sceptile tried to move out of the way of the Volt Switch blast, but the paralysis that had been inflicted by Jolteon's last Thunderbolt slowed his movements and he took a direct hit from the ball of lightning. The attack did not inflict much damage, but it _did_ allow Jolteon to quickly retreat to the rest of the remaining Pokémon for Leaf. Tyranitar immediately charged onto the battlefield and wasted no time getting into the fray. However, his movements were relatively slow and clumsy due to the fact that he, too, was suffering from paralysis.

Sceptile quickly began to launch another Leaf Storm on Tyranitar, but his body seized up and he was unable to move. Tyranitar took advantage of Sceptile's immobility and threw a single Ice Punch at him. His punch scored a direct hit on Sceptile in his chest and he was sent flying as a block of ice formed over his abdomen. He hit the ground and rolled for a few feet before coming to a halt. Ash ran over to him as he was shivering from the ice. "Come on, Sceptile, you can do it!" Ash said, trying to coax Sceptile back into the battle. However, despite Ash's urging, he was unable to move, and after ten seconds, Cynthia declared, "Sceptile is unable to battle. Tyranitar is the winner!"

Ash gritted his teeth in frustration at himself for Sceptile's condition, but he still smiled at him and said, "You did great, Sceptile. You deserve a good, long, rest." He then returned him to his Poké Ball and sent out his next to last Pokémon. "Blastoise, I choose you!"

Blastoise's Poké Ball arced through the air and then opened, releasing Blastoise onto the battlefield once more. As he emerged, he cried, "Blastoise!"

Ash then called out to him, "I'm countin' on ya. Go!"

Leaf then called, "Tyranitar, return!"

This time, the massive armored Pokémon obeyed her command without question and retreated back to the rest of his team. "Go Jolteon!" Jolteon rushed onto the battlefield once more, self-generated electricity arcing across its body in preparation for the battle against Blastoise.

Ash did not intend to give Jolteon much chance to attack, deciding to take the initiative, calling to Blastoise, "Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"

Blastoise gladly obeyed and trained his water cannons on Jolteon. As Jolteon was preparing to fire its Thunderbolt, it took the direct hit from the Hydro Pump, sending him flying along the path of the water, and into one of the trees. Jolteon hit the tree hard, giving a grunt of discomfort and fell to the ground, landing on its feet. It then growled and prepared another Thunderbolt. Looking on from the Trainer's circle, Leaf debated whether or not to keep Jolteon in the fight. Jolteon made the decision, though, when it launched its Thunderbolt at Blastoise. Unfortunately, for Jolteon, Blastoise launched a second Hydro Pump its way just as it launched its Thunderbolt. The two attacks collided in midair and the stream of water continued towards Jolteon, just as Jolteon's Thunderbolt rode the water stream back into Blastoise. Jolteon took the hit and was sent flying into the tree and through it to the other side, hitting the ground and rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop. Jolteon attempted to rise, but was unable to do so. On the other side of the field, Blastoise fell to Jolteon's Thunderbolt and was unable to rise to continue the fight, either. Cynthia then raised both flags, declaring, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle!" Ash was down to one Pokémon to Leaf's two.

Ash then tossed out a Poké Ball and cried, "Charizard, it's all up to you!"

The Poké Ball opened and an orange dragon emerged from the ball and appeared on the field, letting loose a massive roar. On the other side of the field, Leaf looked over to Tyranitar and said, "Tyranitar, go! End this fight!" Tyranitar gave a nod and then ran onto the battlefield. Despite the damage he had already taken in this battle, as well as his paralysis, he still felt as if he was ready to deal with Charizard.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends and mother nervously looked down at the stage as Ash called out Charizard, his final Pokémon, to fight against two of Leaf's Pokémon. May was particularly concerned since she knew that Charizard had an extreme type disadvantage over Tyranitar. "Come on, Ash," she said quietly. "You can do it."

"Against an opponent that has a quadruple type advantage over him?" Tracey countered, his tone showing how hopeless she viewed the battle as being. "The only way Charizard is winning this fight is if he has a powerful Fighting-type move and Tyranitar doesn't take cover. If he manages to take cover before Charizard hits him, it's going to be a quick battle in all the wrong ways."

"Perhaps," Lance replied knowingly. "But you can never tell what's going to happen. This isn't a turn-based game where the wrong type of move or strength and weakness immediately spells doom for one of the fighters. You can have all of the strengths on paper, but if you lose the fight, then what do all of those statistical numbers mean?"

Lance had a point. Still, Tracey and the others felt as if Ash was fighting an uphill battle. They continued to watch to see if Ash would, in fact, dethrone the Champion. They could only hope and pray that Ash had a trick up his sleeve, or Charizard knew a Fighting-type move to use against Tyranitar.

Back down on the battlefield, Ash studied the situation for a second. A part of him wanted to Mega Evolve Charizard and get rid of the sandstorm right away, but another part of him wanted to wait, wanting to make certain that he would defeat Leaf's Venusaur since he saw a Mega Stone on a collar around the Venusaur's neck. Soon, he initiated the battle as he called over to Charizard, pointing towards Tyranitar, who was already on the move, searching for cover, "Charizard, use Focus Blast on Tyranitar!"

Charizard complied and a light-blue ball of energy formed in front of his mouth. He then fired it towards Tyranitar, who was retreating behind a tree. Tyranitar managed to dive behind the tree just as the energy ball struck the ground close to his previous position. The force of the explosion assisted Tyranitar in his dive, but he was still able to take cover and avoid taking a direct hit. After he had taken cover, he peered out from behind the tree to search for Charizard, who was still ground bound. The good news was that Charizard had not Mega Evolved still had to deal with that sandstorm; the bad news was that with him having Focus Blast in his arsenal, a single hit would be more than enough to take down Tyranitar. And with his paralysis, Leaf doubted that Tyranitar would be able to take down Charizard before the dragon scored a hit on him. Hopefully, though, he could weaken the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon enough so that Venusaur could finish him off. Still, a lucky hit with Stone Edge would be devastating to Charizard, and possibly even be enough to knock him out. Tyranitar prepared the attack as Charizard began to take to the air and search for the Rock/Dark-type, being careful to not remain standing or hovering in one spot and allow the Armor Pokémon to get a good bead on him. Still, despite his precautions, Tyranitar was able to hide among a thicket of bushes that surrounded a tree.

As Charizard took to the air, Ash directed, "Search any of the bushes and trees for Tyranitar and prepare a Focus Blast. Once you find him, fire it off as quickly as possible. We don't want to get caught off guard."

Charizard nodded and heeded Ash's advice. He opened his mouth and a light blue ball of energy formed in front of it. From the bushes below, Tyranitar carefully targeted Charizard, despite the billowing sandstorm. A series of rings formed around him and several stones rose from the ground and began to orbit the large Pokémon. The rising of the stones and the bustling of the bushes seemed to get the dragon's attention and he suddenly turned to face the bushes as Tyranitar fired on him sooner than he had wanted. The volley of stones flew up from the bushes towards Charizard at a blistering pace, giving the dragon little time to dodge. Not wanting to lose his chance to take down Tyranitar quickly, he fired off his Focus Blast at the bushes, scoring a direct hit and blowing apart the tactile holographic bushes and taking out a large enough part of the tree that it creaked and fell over onto its side, and onto the same location of the bushes. The blast threw up a massive cloud of dust that encompassed Tyranitar. However, Tyranitar's aim had been good enough for him to score a glancing hit on Charizard, for a few of the stones of Stone Edge had managed to strike the Fire/Flying Pokémon on his wings. Charizard grunted with each hit, dipping lower and lower, but was still able to stay aloft. Tyranitar, however, had taken the worse of the exchange, for the blast cloud still covered the field and there was no sign of activity coming from the center of the cloud. Once the dust cloud had settled, an unconscious Tyranitar was seen underneath the fallen tree. Cynthia raised the red flag and proclaimed, "Tyranitar is unable to battle, Charizard wins!"

Up in the audience, all of Ash's friends gave a huge sigh of relief at Tyranitar's defeat. Their eyes lit up as they looked at the scoreboard and saw that the only Pokémon Leaf had left was Venusaur. "He's going to do it!" Dawn exclaimed. "Ash is going to win!"

"Don't get too carried away," Tracey cautioned. "As we have experienced before, type advantages aren't always the deciding factor in a battle. I traveled with Ash in the Orange Islands long enough to see that with my own eyes."

"Yeah, but this is different," Dawn told him. "Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon and has a quadruple resistance to Venusaur's Grass-type attacks. Not only that, but Charizard also has powerful Fire-type moves that are strong against Venusaur."

"But Venusaur is also highly versatile," Lance countered. "And this is a forest field, which gives Venusaur a great deal of cover from which to launch his attacks. Don't forget the effect of status ailments. If Venusaur can use status ailments against Charizard, then this battle could very well end in Leaf's favor. In addition, Venusaur is also a Poison type and I know for a fact that Venusaur knows Poison-type attacks. Besides, there is also Venusaur's Mega Evolution to consider."

"But Charizard will only have to get one or two good hits to either weaken or take down Venusaur," Dawn countered, feeling that Ash still had a significant edge.

Lance smirked knowingly. "The problem will be getting those hits in on Venusaur before Venusaur manages to afflict Charizard with a variety of status ailments that will lead to his downfall. Remember, this is how she beat Tobias without losing a single Pokémon in her battle against him. And even if Charizard can Mega Evolve, so can Venusaur, and once he does, Charizard may be in for a big surprise."

The others then focused back down on the battle below, uttering silent prayers for Ash and that he would pull through and be the first to defeat Leaf in a long time, possibly ever.

Down on the battlefield, Venusaur stepped forward and Mia began to finger they Key Stone on her left wrist. Ash looked over at her and decided that it was time for the battle to begin. Venusaur began the battle by releasing a cloud of Sleep Powder. A blue cloud of dust was released from Venusaur's plant and slowly floated towards Charizard. Ash could only grin. The time was now. He touched two fingers to his Key Stone and cried out in a loud voice, "Charizard, Mega Evolve!"

The moment he gave the command, Charizard's Charizardite Y began to glow and soon, the glow expanded to encompass Charizard as well. As Charizard began to glow, its form also began to change. The change was not nearly as pronounced as a normal evolution, or even some other Mega Evolutions. After a few seconds, Charizard stopped changing and the glow died, signaling that the change was complete. Standing in Charizard's place was Mega Charizard Y. Mega Charizard Y had a sleeker look than his normal form, retaining his normal coloration. He now had three pointed horns on his head, the middle one being the longest, small wings on his wrists, along with the wings on his back now becoming larger and having ragged edges. His neck was now shorter and he had smaller hands, but his legs and torso were longer.

As soon as Charizard had finished his Mega Evolution, a bright ray of sun shown through the skylight above and came down onto the battlefield, bathing it in intense sunlight. Ash smiled. Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability had now come into play, not only undoing the sandstorm, but also powering up his own Fire-type attacks, as well as allowing him to use Solar Beam without having to charge the attack. While it would also allow Venusaur to use Solar Beam without having to charge it, he knew that Charizard could take the attack since he retained his Fire/Flying typing. However, across the battlefield, Leaf did her best to hide her grin as Ash had Mega Evolved Charizard. She was ready for just this scenario.

Up in the stands, Ash's mother and friends were looking down at the battle, surprise crossing the faces of Dawn and Tracey. "What just happened?" Dawn asked.

"Charizard Mega Evolved," Professor Oak answered. "A colleague of mine in the Kalos Region, Professor Sycamore, has been researching Mega Evolution for quite a while. Mega Evolution is a temporary evolution where a Pokémon becomes far stronger than it would usually be in battle. It normally only lasts until the Pokémon faints, or the battle is over. Only certain Pokémon are capable of Mega Evolution."

"Of which, Venusaur is also included," Lance added, which brought a look of concern from May, Dawn, and Delia. "And Leaf does have the Key Stone and Venusaurite necessary to Mega Evolve her Venusaur."

"Then why hasn't she done so yet?" May asked.

"Because Ash just Mega Evolved his Charizard into Mega Charizard Y," Lance answered. "And he has, thus, fallen right into Leaf's trap."

His last statement brought out a gasp from May and Dawn. They then looked back down at the battlefield, no longer certain of Charizard's impending victory. Each one uttered a silent prayer that Ash would be able to overcome Leaf and become the Champion. "Come on, Ash. You can do it," May said waveringly.

Back down on the battlefield, Ash was focused on dealing with Leaf's opening Sleep Powder attack. "Charizard, target Venusaur and blow away that Sleep Powder cloud with Fire Blast!" Ash called out to his most powerful Pokémon, not bothering to call him Mega Charizard Y. Charizard was a friend and he would refer to him by his normal name.

Charizard did as he was told and a blast of fire that took the shape of a human figure emerged from Charizard's mouth and grew until it was the size of a person. The blast of fire made contact with the cloud of powder and burned through it with ease, the dust instantly igniting and being reduced to ashes. The blast continued unhindered towards Venusaur, who hunkered down before jumping off the ground, and over the blast of fire that was sailing towards him. The Fire Blast attack sailed beneath Venusaur and across the battlefield, striking the wall on the other side of the field, instantly melting through the concrete barriers before dissipating. Venusaur landed on the ground, causing it to shake from his weight, and retaliated by launching a ball of poison from its plant. Charizard rocketed above the ball of sludge and managed to avoid it. Ash grimaced and knew that even though Charizard had Mega Evolved, Venusaur would still be a difficult opponent for him to beat. After all, he was dealing with the World Champion in Leaf. And there was the fact that Leaf was smiling now that Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability had brought down intense sunlight, which was beginning to cause Ash some trepidation. What did Leaf know that he did not?

Venusaur then began the battle once more by releasing another cloud of Sleep Powder towards Charizard. The powder cloud was launched at incredible velocity, far faster than either Charizard or Ash had expected, far faster than the first one had been unleashed, and it covered the dragon before he could counter with Flamethrower or Fire Blast. As soon as he was covered with the blue powder, he began to fall asleep. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but was unable to do so and landed on the ground, wobbling in an attempt to remain standing, and failing. But he would not go to sleep before making Venusaur pay.

Without any direction from Ash, he launched second Fire Blast towards Venusaur, hoping that a direct hit would be enough for his powered up Fire Blast to take down Venusaur. The blast was unleashed from Charizard and took the form of a human stick figure as it burned through the remainder of the cloud and barreled towards the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. Venusaur, seeing the attack coming, quickly ran to evade the attack, far faster than Ash would have expected. Still, it was not enough to completely escape the Fire Blast and the attack hit Venusaur on his right side, singeing him. He recoiled from the blast, giving a cry of pain and surprise at the power of the attack. Still, one attack was not sufficient to take down Venusaur, despite being powered by the sun, and being launched from a Mega Evolved Pokémon that had a type advantage over Venusaur. After hitting Venusaur with the Fire Blast, Charizard fell asleep and collapsed onto the ground. He was now helpless against Venusaur, who was eager to make him pay for that Fire Blast.

Up in the audience, Ash's friends all watched nervously as they listened to the commentary and watched the scoreboard and other video screens as they saw Charizard fall asleep. While they were concerned with the fact that Venusaur was able to put Charizard to sleep, they were more concerned with the speed that was demonstrated by Venusaur. Dawn was staring at Venusaur, his mouth agape. "How did Venusaur get to be that fast?" she blurted.

"I don't know," May echoed. "I have a Venusaur, myself, and Leaf's Venusaur moved a lot faster than mine. And I can't just chalk up the difference to training. I mean it looked like it was faster than Charizard, or even Pikachu."

"Leaf's Venusaur's ability is Chlorophyll," Lance answered. "In the sunlight, his speed doubles, both in the powering and launching of his attacks, as well as his movement speed and reflexes."

"But Venusaur can't have Chlorophyll as his ability," Tracey declared. "I'm a Pokémon Watcher and an assistant to Professor Oak and I have never once seen any member of the Bulbasaur family have that ability."

"It's rare," Professor Oak began, "but not unheard of for Pokémon to have a special ability that is not normally found on said Pokémon. For example, Charizard and its evolutionary line can rarely have Solar Power, which increases the power of their Fire-type attacks even more in the sun, albeit at the cost of health for each attack, and Blastoise and its evolutionary line also rarely can be seen with Rain Dish, which gradually restores health in rain."

"Wow, I didn't know that Pokémon could have such a wide variety of abilities," Dawn commented.

"The true extent of the abilities of Pokémon is only recently being revealed," Oak replied. "And I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that there is a lot more to learn about Pokémon than we can imagine."

"But what about the battle?" Delia asked. "Can Ash still win?"

"Can he? Yes," Professor Oak answered. "Charizard still has the type advantage over Venusaur. The question is whether or not he'll be able to exploit it before he sustains too much damage to continue the battle. The answer to that question is, I don't know."

With that ominous assessment of the battle, the group returned their attention to the battlefield below.

Venusaur began his assault on the sleeping Mega Charizard Y by launching a Sludge Bomb from its plant towards the fallen Pokémon. The bomb scored a direct hit on Charizard and exploded in a cloud of brown smoke. Venusaur did not let up at all. Next, a seed formed at the top of Venusaur's plant and he fired it at the sleeping Charizard. Ash recognized this as Leech Seed and cried, "Charizard, wake up!"

Charizard did not budge as the seed connected with the sleeping Pokémon and vines immediately sprang up from the seed and surrounded Charizard, ensnaring him. Red sparks and streaks of energy surrounded the vines like electricity as they drained Charizard of his energy and automatically transferred it to Venusaur. Venusaur gave a rumble of satisfaction, along with Leaf's seeming grin, as he proceeded to launch another Sludge Bomb on Charizard. Again, Charizard took a direct hit from the attack, and also had more of his energy sapped by the Leech Seed.

Ash stood on his side of the battlefield, frozen. He did not know what he could do. A part of him wanted to go in there and take on Venusaur, himself, but another part of him thought that that was a foolish idea and would only make things worse for Charizard. He had noticed that ever since the time Mia had intervened in the battle between Tyranitar and Pikachu, that she had not directly taken part in the fighting against Ash's team. For someone who seemed to take great pride in the fact that she and her Pokémon fought as a team, rather than as master and servant, he thought that it was a little odd. Still, his other Pokémon had been different, especially in size and physical strength, compared to Pikachu. Looking across at her, he could tell that she was strongly considering entering the battle should things start to go south for Venusaur. But for now, she was content to stand by and watch, smiling as Venusaur pelted Charizard with Sludge Bomb after Sludge Bomb, hoping for this battle to end soon.

Venusaur launched another Sludge Bomb, which scored another direct hit on the sleeping Pokémon. Still, despite the damage, Mega Charizard Y remained asleep. Ash gritted his teeth. Venusaur was smart. He knew that Grass-type attacks were next to useless against a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon like Mega Charizard Y so he was sticking to using type neutral attacks like the Poison-type Sludge Bomb. Venusaur then launched yet another Sludge Bomb, which scored another direct hit on Charizard. Again, the Sludge Bomb exploded and covered the dragon in brown, poisonous smoke. It was then that Charizard sprang awake and went to retaliate.

"He's awake, watch out!" Leaf called to Venusaur as Mega Charizard Y unleashed another Fire Blast towards Venusaur. The Grass/Poison-type Pokémon used his increased speed to dart out of the way of the incoming blast of fire and hide behind a tree as the blast of fire sailed wide. He retaliated with yet another Sludge Bomb. The attack, launched from the plant on Venusaur's back, arced towards Charizard much faster than it normally would have. Charizard tried to jump out of the way, but the increased velocity of the bomb was too much for Charizard, especially since he was still shaking off the grogginess of having been sound asleep. The bomb scored a hit on the lower part of his abdomen and exploded in another brown poison cloud. Unfortunately, Charizard breathed in the poison cloud and was poisoned by the attack. A purple blush appeared on Charizard's cheeks and he looked as if he were ready to vomit. Venusaur took this opportunity to fire off another Sludge Bomb at Charizard. The attack scored a direct hit on him and he was sent reeling backwards, the cumulative damage dealt by the Sludge Bombs, as well as the constant draining of energy by Leech Seed, as well as the replenishing of Venusaur by the Leech Seed, was taking a heavy toll on Charizard and he was beginning to breathe heavily.

After a few moments, the sunlight then died down and the lighting in the stadium returned to normal. Seeing this, both Ash and Leaf knew that this battle had just taken another turn. Looking at the reduced sunlight, she cried to Venusaur, "The sunlight's down! It's time! Mega Evolve!"

The moment she uttered those words, she touched her fingers to her Key Stone and the Mega Stone around Venusaur's neck began to glow. As with Charizard, the glow soon encompassed Venusaur but the physical changes appeared to be far less noticeable than they had been with Charizard. When the glow died, the changes to Venusaur were far fewer than had been done to Charizard, but they were still noticeable. First of all, Ash noticed that a pink flower was now on Venusaur's forehead, and had he been standing behind Venusaur, he would have seen one on his rear, too. There were also darker patches of green below the new bloom on the forehead. In addition, there were leaves below the large flower's leaves on Venusaur's back and there were support vines connected to the main flower, too.

After Venusaur had finished Mega Evolving, Leaf called out to him, saying, "Venusaur, take cover in the trees!"

Venusaur nodded and quickly retreated into the forest while Charizard took to the air and immediately searched for any sign of Venusaur in the trees and bushes. Despite Venusaur's attempts to remain hidden, Charizard saw the top of a plant with red flowers popping out over the canopy of a series of bushes and figured that he had found his target.

Not waiting to see if a bulge of energy was going to appear, or for any orders from Ash, the dragon unleashed his Fire Blast upon the red petals jutting out from the top of the canopy of bushes. Ash had no problem with this, though, for he felt that Charizard had a better view of the battlefield than he did. The blast of fire hit the bushes and instantly incinerated them, fire spreading out from the center of the explosion of the Fire Blast. Just as Charizard had expected, the bushes were burned away and Venusaur was revealed, having sustained a direct hit from the Fire Blast. However, Venusaur had suffered far less damage than he had expected him to from a direct Fire Blast. Venusaur burst from the bushes as a golden bulb of energy was now forming on the petals and the top of the plant on Venusaur's back and unleashed his Solar Beam on Charizard, scoring a direct hit on the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. While the Solar Beam did not inflict all that much damage on Charizard, it still hurt and he grunted in discomfort. Charizard then dipped a bit, having difficulty staying aloft. Ash then called out to Charizard, "Charizard, land so you can use Roost to recover. This battle's gonna be tougher than we thought."

Charizard saw the wisdom in Ash's advice and descended from the air, landing on top of a tree on Ash's side of the battlefield, crouching in the bushes so he could take cover from Mega Venusaur's retaliatory attacks while he healed. While he was healing, Leech Seed still drained more health from him, as did the poisoning.

As Charizard was using Roost, Venusaur unleashed another Sludge Bomb Charizard's way, not wanting to waste time with Solar Beam. Mega Charizard Y was too slow to react and the Sludge Bomb scored a direct hit on the dragon's head. Charizard quickly retaliated by using Air Slash. Charizard slashed his wings towards Venusaur and two circular air blades were unleashed upon the Pokémon, scoring direct hits on Venusaur, causing it to grunt in pain. Venusaur quickly retaliated with another Sludge Bomb, scoring another hit on Charizard, this time Charizard only suffered a glancing hit on his leg as he quickly took to the air, realizing that he would not recover any health if he was constantly bombarded by Venusaur's Sludge Bomb.

After Charizard took to the air, Ash then directed, "Charizard, use Fire Blast on Venusaur! Finish this fight!"

Just as Ash had given the order, Leaf called out to Venusaur, "Venusaur, stand firm and use Solar Beam! Charizard didn't have much of a chance to recover so we don't have to hold back Charizard's Fire Blast indefinitely; just long enough for the Leech Seed and poison to take him down."

Venusaur complied and the plant on his back gave a yellowish-white glow. Venusaur then gave a cry as he fired a yellow beam of energy from his plant straight towards Charizard, who at the same instant, unleashed a Fire Blast down towards Venusaur. The attacks collided in midair and the Fire Blast was stopped for a second by the Solar Beam, but the Solar Beam quickly gave way to the fire attack, which had a significant type advantage over it, even though Mega Venusaur's Thick Fat reduced the damage Venusaur would have taken from Charizard's Fire Blast. Charizard focused on Venusaur and keeping his Fire Blast on target, but he was also fighting the poison and the Leech Seed that were afflicting him as well. He struggled to remain in the air and quickly descended, landing on the ground not too far away from Venusaur. Venusaur saw Charizard's movement and swept his Solar Beam downward to track the Pokémon. Charizard's Fire Blast, however, quickly managed to close the distance and stayed on target with Venusaur, preventing the beam from being able to hit Charizard. Venusaur knew that he now had to focus on keeping that Fire Blast from hitting him and knocking him out before Charizard fainted. For a few seconds, he managed to hold out and keep the Fire Blast from closing in on him, but eventually, he simply could not keep it up. The Solar Beam was overpowered by Charizard's Fire Blast and the blast of fire scored a direct hit on Venusaur just as Charizard fell to the ground, collapsing due to the drain by Leech Seed and poison. "Charizard, no!" Ash cried as he saw Mega Charizard Y fall to the ground, unconscious, the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon immediately reverting to his normal form.

"Venusaur!" Leaf cried in echo as the blast of flame scored a direct hit on Venusaur and exploded, sending up a massive cloud of dust. The overpressure from the blast send a gust of wind towards both Trainers. Their hair billowed in the wind as they shielded their eyes and struggled to see through the blast cloud and ascertain whether or not Venusaur had somehow managed to avoid fainting from the attack.

The audience, too, watched with baited breath as the stadium was buffeted by the winds and the cloud was slow to clear. However, there had been no signs of movement from inside the cloud, and Cynthia was gripping both flags tightly. All of Ash's friends and his mother watched the scene intently, as did the shadowy figure on the other side of the bleachers. Each of his friends prayed that Charizard's Fire Blast had managed to take down Venusaur, figuring that the best Ash could hope for was a tie.

Down on the battlefield, the cloud of dust slowly cleared. Once it cleared, Venusaur was seen in the center of burnt out crater. He was perfectly still, with the exception of his chest, which rose and fell with each breath. He was sprawled out on the floor with his eyes closed, and in his normal form rather than his Mega Evolved form. He was in no condition to fight. Cynthia then raised both flags and declared, "Both Pokémon are unable to battle. The battle ends in a tie!"

Cheers erupted from the audience as the declaration was made. Both Charizard and Venusaur were returned to their Poké Balls, with Venusaur being sent out once more to rejoin the rest of Leaf's Team. Ash then let out a huge sigh of relief. However, Cynthia was not finished, and Ash could see Leaf grinning and staring right at him. "However, since Old Rules, Section One was invoked at the beginning of this battle, a tiebreaker match shall be fought. This tiebreaker match shall be between the two Trainers directly. The rules for this match are simple. You are the loser if you give up, land outside of the ring, stay down, either voluntarily or are forced, for ten counts, lose consciousness, or if you kill your opponent. You may hit your opponent anywhere on the body, except for the groin, eyes, and throat. Any strike or hold to the throat, especially the trachea, is forbidden and can result in immediate disqualification. Do you understand?"

"Yes," both Ash and Leaf responded in unison.

"Then the match shall commence once the final battlefield is chosen."

A wheel appeared on the scoreboard above the battlefield and once more, pizza slices appeared, detailing the various fields that could be used for the upcoming battle. The spinner spun around for several seconds until it eventually began to slow down. A couple seconds later, it came to a stop on the water/ice field symbol. Once the battlefield was chosen, the trees, some of which were burning, and was replaced with a water field. Leaf was less than pleased with this battlefield selection. Ash, however, began to smile, realizing that he may have had an edge in this battle. Cynthia then called out once more, "Will the two combatants come to the center of the battlefield."

Both Ash and Leaf then made their way out to the center of the battlefield. A holographic bridge extended from the trainer area to the center platform, which had two circles on either side. Each Trainer crossed their bridge and made their way to the center platform. As he crossed the platform, he stared intently at Leaf, who was staring back at him. As he watched her walk, he could not help but notice something familiar about her: the way she walked, even the way she talked and how she viewed her Pokémon. It was strange, but he could have sworn that he knew her from somewhere.

His thoughts soon turned to the upcoming fight. He looked back at Pikachu, who had since regained consciousness but was in no position to help him in the fight. "Pika pika!" Pikachu cried in support, pumping his fists into the air. Ash was less optimistic. While he had some basic self-defense martial arts training, he was nowhere close to being a black belt; and he had the feeling that Mia, there was that name again, _was_ a black belt at least. And there was always the issue of what his parents had taught him about hitting girls, as in never to do so under any circumstances unless it was a life-or-death situation. _His parents_? he wondered to himself. For a second, he had a much different feeling enter his heart regarding his father, than he had initially known. Since this battle was not a life-or-death fight, he knew that he would have a disadvantage if he was going to hold true to these ideals, and he knew that Mia knew it and was relishing the opportunity to teach him to not condescend her, if her almost evil grin did not tell him everything he needed to know already.

Up in the audience, Delia looked on with concern. She did not like this invocation of the old rules. From what she had known, normally, a tiebreaker match would have been done by having each Trainer call up one more Pokémon and have that be the tiebreaker. Instead, with Old Rules, the tiebreaker was the two Trainers fighting it out for the championship. Even with the restrictions on the rules, she knew that a fight like this could get rough. Even worse was the fact that her son was going up against a girl of his age. Normally, that would be enough to give him the edge, but she felt as if the way Ash had been raised could allow Leaf to take advantage of his hesitation to fight a girl. The others, however, did not share Delia's worry.

"So it's a physical fight to the finish," Dawn commented nonchalantly. "Unless this Leaf is a super martial artist, Ash should have this in the bag."

"On paper, you're probably right," Professor Oak responded. "However, we don't know what might be going through his mind. One's mental state is a key factor in a fight; and mind games can often turn a battle. If he holds back against her due to chivalry, she could make him pay for it."

"I don't think Ash'll have that problem," May interjected. "Remember what Leaf did to Pikachu. He could use that as ammunition against her."

"Let's hope so," Professor Oak responded.

Lance looked down at the field, seeing Leaf's grin. He knew that she felt confident going into this battle. He did not say anything, but he had a feeling that Ash was going to be fighting an uphill battle against Leaf.

The two combatants reached the center platform and stood in the circles designated for each fighter. There was a line in the middle of the platform that separated each half of the platform. Ash and Leaf looked each other in the eye and gave a respectful bow. Once the bow was finished, a menacing scowl crossed Leaf's face and she growled, "Don't you _dare_ hold back against me because I'm a girl, Ash Ketchum."

The ferocity of her look caused Ash to tremble as he stared at her. She was serious about this fight. But there was something else in her glare. He wondered if she was viewing this as training for him, or if she truly intended to do everything in her power to beat him. Of course, the two were not mutually exclusive. Seeing that the two combatants were ready, Cynthia raised her right hand and cried, "And begin!" bringing her hand down in a chopping motion.

Leaf began the fight by assuming a fighter's stance and waiting for Ash to make the first move. Ash continued to look at Leaf in the eyes and refused to initiate the battle, or even assume a fighter's stance. This did not amuse Leaf. "What are you waiting for, Ash? Don't you want to become the Pokémon League Champion?"

"Yeah," Ash retorted, though there was a note of hesitation in his voice.

"Then why don't you attack?"

Ash did not want to answer the question, for he did not want to appear to be condescending towards her. However, he also did not want to start the fight with her. His father had always taught him to never to start a fight, but always finish one. He had also drilled it into Ash's head that he should never hit a girl. While Ash did not want to disrespect Leaf, he also did not want to simply bully his way to victory. This was made all that much more complicated by having his mother and friends watching in the stands, as well as this fight being on national, if not world, television.

Leaf gave an annoyed grunt when she saw that Ash would not start the fight and decided to make him pay for his error when she rushed him and drove her fist into his abdomen. Air was forcibly exhaled from his lungs as the punch made contact and he staggered backwards from the force of the strike. Before he could recover, he was kicked in the sternum and sent staggering backwards some more. Before he could stumble into the water, though, Leaf reached out and grabbed his arm with her left hand. She pulled him back towards her, keeping him from inching closer to the water. As she pulled him in, she drew back her right hand and thrust it forward towards his head. This time, Ash was able to raise his hand and deflect the blow. He got a sense of sarcastic relief from the girl, almost being able to make out her thought, _At least he was able to block that telegraphed open palm strike_.

Ash then assumed a fighter's stance and prepared for Leaf's next assault, still being careful to not go on the offensive. Leaf then launched a flurry of punches, open palm strikes, and kicks towards Ash. He managed to dodge or parry the kicks and most of the punches and open palm strikes, but a few were able to land on his abdomen. He threw a few ineffectual attacks her way in defense and to give himself some space so he could direct her closer to the water. Leaf was easily able to block or parry his attacks, and had even surprised him by pulling him in towards one of her side kicks, which connected with his chest and sent him flying a few feet in the air. He landed on his back and slid a couple feet before coming to a halt. Leaf then stood over him ominously, glaring down at him.

Up in the stands, Ash's friends watched the one-sided slaughter in shock as Leaf was having her way with Ash throughout the entire fight. It was obvious that she was a highly skilled martial artist, but that was not the real issue. It was equally obvious that Ash was having trouble bringing himself to initiate an attack of any kind on the girl. May's eyes went wide as she watched the fight. "What are you doing, Ash?" she yelled exasperatedly. "Fight back! Leaf's kicking the stuffing out of you and you can't even muster the will to defend yourself?"

Both Tracey and Dawn echoed May's sentiments, though not as loudly. Still, they were quite concerned about Ash's unwillingness to take the fight to Leaf when she presented herself with an opening. Lance seemed to have the same concern, even though he could see that the openings that Leaf was giving Ash were quite obvious. Still, he and the others who knew anything about martial arts also knew that they were dangerous openings that a boy would generally be able to take advantage of against a girl and that most girls would not be able to recover from due to males generally being physically stronger than females in physical fights. Still, even if Ash were more willing to take the fight to Leaf, he did not know whether or not Ash would win since Leaf was a first-degree black belt in karate, and was studying a variety of other martial arts as well. However, Ash did have one advantage. He was no weakling and was in shape, physically. He should at the very least be on a par with Leaf in strength, and was more than likely stronger than her. The question was whether his strength would be enough to overcome her obvious advantage in skill, along with her willingness to fight. Delia could only watch on, almost in horror at the beating that her son was taking. She also felt a pang of regret and sadness at seeing this fight, regardless of its eventual outcome, for reasons that she could not put words to. She could barely watch as the fight continued, hoping that it would end soon.

Back on the battlefield, Ash slowly rose, still feeling the effects of the kick that had been delivered to his chest. As he rose, he saw that Leaf was making no effort to keep him down; at least not yet. Once he rose, he assumed a fighting stance once more but did not launch an attack. This caused her to grimace and give a growl. She charged him once more and rammed her shoulder into his ribcage. The attack sent Ash flying, though it was not nearly as hard as it could have been. He staggered backwards and fell close to the water. Leaf, seeing that she was getting close to the water, did not continue her assault, not wanting to give up her primary edge. She then studied him, trying to ascertain whether or not he was simply not fighting, or whether this was all a cunning strategy to lure the more highly skilled fighter to the water and get her in so that her advantage in fighting skill would be neutralized. Ash looked at the water but did not make any move indicating that he was trying to draw her close to the water. She then decided to try a new tactic. "So, after all this talk, all this action, all this time spent on your Pokémon journey, you're within arm's reach of fulfilling your greatest dream and you're going to let it all slip away," she said almost mockingly.

Ash gritted his teeth and retorted, "It's not over yet," as he rose, only to be thrust back down to the ground with a palm strike to his chest. She then stood over him and lifted her right leg. She then brought her foot down on his chest, pinning him to the floor. He struggled against her weight, but he was unable to move her. She stared down at him almost sadistically and told him, "It's over now, Ash. You only have ten seconds before I'm declared the winner."

It was then that Ash grabbed her foot with both of his hands and pulled. Leaf lost her balance and was forced off of Ash, allowing him to roll away and get back up. She smiled as she staggered backwards a few steps, regained her footing, and focused back on Ash. Standing up once more, Ash assumed a fighter's stance, but did not attack. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "Why don't you fight? Is it because I'm a girl?"

Ash nodded slowly. "That's part of it, but not all of it; nor is it the main reason."

"Then what's holding you back?"

"You're my sister," Ash responded, looking down at the ground. "And I can't bring myself to fight you," he declared. "Not like this. And it's not as if you're using your full strength against me, either," he noted.

Leaf smirked. "You know that if this was a real fight to the death, that I could, and would, have killed you ten times over already, even if the rules about not striking you in the throat or using any chokeholds were still in place."

"But this is _not_ a fight to the death," Ash countered. "This is merely a sparring match that allows for fuller contact than standard sparring matches. And you're family."

Leaf sighed. "Perhaps," she said. "But what would you do if this _was_ a fight to the death? I know what Father taught you. And he's right. But don't be fooled. Girls and women are just as capable of being evil as boys and men. We can be just as cruel, just as sadistic, and just as evil as any male villain that you've faced. You should know that. You've faced evil women before."

Ash saw her point. He had fought a Pokémon poacher known as Hunter J several times in the Sinnoh Region, but nothing had been heard from her for over a year and a half. It had been reported that she had been killed during the captures of Uxie and Mesprit. J had been pure evil, far more so than almost any other villain that he had encountered. Only Grings Kodai, the Iron Masked Marauder, and possibly Giovanni of Team Rocket and Cyrus of Team Galactic were just as evil or more so. But Leaf was not Hunter J. She was the exact opposite, if likely a little harsh in her treatment towards those who were evil. "Don't think for a second that an evil woman servant, or boss, would not take advantage of any hesitation that you might have to fight her if that is her best chance to beat you," Leaf continued. "Those that are evil won't play by your rules. They'll use your moral codes against you, if they can. They'll take advantage of your compassion and mercy."

"Are you trying to make it so that I become evil, or a dark antihero?" Ash blurted in question.

Leaf shook her head. "No," she answered. "I'm just alerting you to the fact that these types of things will happen. View my fight with you as a learning experience. Also, remember how I helped Tyranitar defeat Pikachu. Pikachu knew that I was your sister and hesitated. I used that to my advantage to pin him with my rubber gloves." Her expression then softened as she added, "Your chivalry towards girls and women is a _good_ thing, Ash, but don't take it too far when dealing with those that are truly evil. Remember the difference between being a peacemaker, and a pacifist. A peacemaker is still willing to fight against evil if fighting is the only option; and sometimes it is. A true pacifist will never fight under any circumstances, even against true evil, even if it is to save the lives of other innocents. They would sacrifice the lives of their own friends and family members in order to uphold those ideals. I know that you aren't a pacifist."

Ash then gave a smile. "Thanks," he told her. "But this isn't a life-or-death fight. And you're no Hunter J."

Leaf then grimaced. She could not tell whether or not he would fight her seriously. To try to ascertain whether or not he would be willing to attack, she charged towards him and drew back her fist and went to throw a quick punch to his head. It was an obviously telegraphed attack and would be easy to block, and with Ash's strength he would be able to trap her arm and leave her wide open to attack. Instead of trying to block the attack or gain leverage on her, he merely swayed out of the way of her attack. She over extended herself and she was slow to turn around and perform a side kick to his chest, which was blocked. Still, despite the openings that she was leaving him, Ash refused to go on the offensive, or take advantage of her "mistakes".

Seeing that he still was not going to attack, she asked him harshly, "How badly do you want to win this? How much do you want to be the Champion?"

"I want it more than you can imagine, Mia," Ash retorted harshly, using her real name.

"Then act like it and _FIGHT_!" she cried as she charged and thrust an open palm strike towards his head. Ash managed to duck underneath her blow and he had a great opening to throw a punch to her ribcage, but he did not take advantage of it, still not wanting to hit her, despite the fact that he knew that if she lost patience with him, that she could maul him in a fight. Mia ruthlessly responded by ducking down and performing a leg sweep. Ash's legs were swept out from underneath him and he fell to the ground with a thud. Mia then jumped on him, using her own weight, particularly her knees and left hand to pin Ash to the ground while she drew back her right hand for another strike to his head. As she thrust her palm forward, Ash was able to grab her hand and push it to the side. Ash then grinned. Mia had made a mistake, and she realized it as her eyes went wide with shock, and a little bit of concern. With his free hand, he was able to grab Mia's left hand and pull it off of him. Using his greater strength, he was able to throw her to the side and quickly roll on top of her, wrestling her to the ground and using his greater weight to pin her in place. "That's better," she said with a satisfied smirk, looking straight into his eyes. "But pinning me to the ground won't win you the fight."

Ash gave a confident smile in response. "It will if I can keep you pinned for ten seconds," he replied.

Cynthia quickly came over to the group and began to count, "One, two, three," Mia struggled against Ash's superior weight, doing her best to try to gain leverage on him to try to force him off of her. He responded by grabbing her shoulders and pinning them to the ground, and using the rest of his body to keep her pinned to the ground. "…four, five, six," Cynthia's count continued. As long as Mia could not move her arms and the rest of her body was restrained, she was counted as being down for the purposes of this fight. She knew that if Ash were a true enemy that he could do whatever he wanted to her right now. She was completely at his mercy, though that did not mean that she would not fight. She would fight to the end, but things were not looking good for her right now. Still, he was not launching any attacks on her while she was down. He was content to merely pin her to the ground using his own weight until Cynthia counted to ten.

Mia continued to struggle against Ash as she tried to wear him out, since he had taken a pounding from her in the fight. Her struggles were in vain, though, as nothing she did could budge him. "How much do I want this?" Ash asked Mia in a confident voice. "This much," he said in direct answer to his question. He then heard Cynthia count, "…seven, eight, nine, _ten_!"

The moment that she cried "ten", she slapped the mat much like a wrestling referee would. "This battle is over!" she declared. "Ash Ketchum is the winner, and the new World Pokémon League Champion!"

The moment the battle was declared over, Ash got off of Mia, and knelt next to her. He extended her hand towards her and smiled kindly. Mia returned his smile and took his hand. He pulled her up and they both faced each other and bowed. Once they had bowed the audience erupted in cheers and celebration. Ash scanned the audience and saw all of his friends and his mother standing and cheering. He heard Dawn and May exclaim, "You did it!"

"Way to go, honey!" he heard his mother echo.

He then heard a masculine voice come from the other end of the stadium exclaim, "It is yours now, Ash."

Ash looked up into the audience, searching for the source of the voice, for he knew that he had heard the voice before. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a man with black hair, wearing a red jacket duck behind some of the audience in the stands. For a second, he thought that it was his father, but that could not be. His father had disappeared years ago without a trace. His mother had always thought, and said, that his father abandoned them, but he was no longer so sure, especially since meeting his sister, Mia, someone who he had no idea even existed until his battle with her.

He continued to scan the audience for any sign of where the man might reappear, but he could not find him. He did not notice when Cynthia came up, offering him a large, golden trophy, and saying, "Congratulations, Ash. You are the new World Pokémon League Champion, and the only one to have ever defeated Leaf."

He hesitated before accepting the trophy. He did not feel as if he had managed to defeat her. After all, the Pokémon battle was a tie, with the tie not being resolved by a seventh Pokémon battle, but a battle between the Trainers, one where neither combatant gave their all, each for a different set of reasons. It took Mia's kind insistence, "Take the trophy, Ash. You earned it," to get him to accept the trophy. He looked back at her and gave an almost regretful smile. After accepting the trophy, he thanked Cynthia and then called back to Mia, "We'll have to do this again sometime and see who the real winner would have been. Though next time, let's do it without the fight at the end."

Mia gave him a smile before turning away and returning each of her Pokémon to their Poké Balls and leaving the stadium. She wanted Ash to bask in the glow of his victory as his friends and family came down to celebrate with him. She gave one last glance as she saw her mother and Ash's friends meet him, giving a smile as she saw the girls that were talking with him. She then turned to get her Pokémon friends to the Pokémon Center. Even though Ash was the Champion, for the moment, she still had other duties that needed attending to. She could feel Ash watching as she left and knew that they would be meeting again soon.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, two people, one a middle-aged man with black hair and green eyes and wearing eye glasses, the other, a young woman who looked to barely be in her twenties, if that, with medium length blond hair curled into two wavy tails, one on each side of her face, and blue eyes, walked along a road, gazing at the surroundings as if in search for a particular building. The man wore a white lab coat over a gray shirt and black pants. The young woman wore a standard female Team Rocket uniform, a black short-sleeved shirt with a red R on the front, long, white gloves that covered all portions of her arms that were exposed by the shirt, a white miniskirt with a pink stripe that went around the whole skirt, and long, white stockings that covered most of the exposed parts of her legs, and white shoes. Despite the young woman's youth, she was a high-ranking member of Team Rocket, at least on the same level as the middle-aged scientist that was working with her. She also wore a black jacket over her Team Rocket uniform to hide her allegiance to the criminal organization. Unlike most missions she had been assigned, for this one, she had six Poké Balls clipped to her belt, just in case they ran into trouble, in addition to her electrified black tulip, and a lightning gun. They did not expect to, though, for Team Plasma had disbanded over a year ago, Ghetsis now only having the Shadow Triad for minions; and the Rocket agents that had accompanied the two of them to this base were supposed to deal with any trouble that should arise. If all went well, then they would be able to claim their objective without being detected.

The man drew out a large paper and examined it. After studying it, he looked over at the young woman and said, "The experiment that Team Plasma was working on is down the next corridor. If there's any resistance, we'll face it here. Tell the others to get ready to back us up, just incase."

"Keep your voice down, Gideon," the young woman whispered harshly. "We don't need the sound of our voices alerting them to our presence."

Gideon nodded as they continued on their way down the street. They came around the bend and saw that there was no sign of resistance outside the lab. Seeing that they were in the clear, they proceeded to make their way towards the lab.

Inside the building, a single scientist stood by a coffin-like chamber that was large enough to hold a human inside. The walls of the room were painted gray and there were numerous computers in the room with screens lining the walls. Looking over his notes, he smiled with satisfaction. "Excellent," he cooed. "Everything's going perfectly. I'll show them. I'll show them all what I am capable of. Genesect is the ultimate Pokémon. It has no equal!"

"Then I'm certain that we'll be able to make great use of Genesect," came the voice of the young woman standing in the doorway. She and Gideon were standing in the doorway, the young woman grinning sadistically towards the scientist standing near the chamber. The Rockets' appearance took the scientist off guard, and he nearly jumped at the sound of the woman's voice.

"What the…? Who are you?" the scientist stammered.

"I'm Domino," the young woman answered with a smirk. "And we're very interested in your work. Give us the Pokémon you're working on and we'll give you no trouble."

"I won't just hand over my work to just anyone. What are you willing to give me for it?"

"Your life," Domino answered as she drew out her lightning gun, a gray science fiction-like gun with two barrels that had an electrical charge flashing between them, and her black 'tulip' and held them on him, her sadistic grin letting him know that she was very willing to use deadly force to get what she wanted.

The scientist's eyes went wide at the sight of the gun and tulip and exclaimed, "You're Team Rocket! I thought they were gone!"

"Not yet," Domino retorted. "Now be smart and hand over your research to someone who will actually put it to good use."

"Not without some kind of…ahhh!" He never got to finish his ultimatum, for Domino pulled the trigger on her lightning gun and shot him in the chest. The lightning stream struck him and electricity arced across as his body. The scientist fell to the floor, electricity still sparking all across his body and Domino directed Gideon, "Find all of the research pertaining to Genesect and take it with us. We'll need it if we're gonna control this Pokémon."

"Right," the Team Rocket scientist replied as he quickly went about scouring the lab for any research pertaining to Genesect and any other Pokémon experiments that might have been conducted in the lab. He took out several memory sticks and placed them in several data ports in the various computers and began to download the data. He glanced over at the fallen former Team Plasma scientist that Domino had shot, making sure that he was still out since he was uncertain whether Domino had killed him or merely stunned him. Inwardly, he had hoped that the scientist was merely stunned, for if they were caught, he did not want to be tried for murder or as an accessory.

Domino, however, looked as if she could not have cared less about the scientist's fate. She merely looked over at Gideon and blurted, "How long is this gonna take? We're on a tight schedule, here."

"Not long," Gideon answered. "I'm finishing the data download now." A few more seconds passed as he checked each screen and saw that the data download was complete. After the download was complete, he disconnected the memory drives and placed them in his coat's pocket. He then turned to Domino and informed her, "It's done. Let's get out of here."

"One more thing," she said in response. She took out one of her Poké Balls and opened it. A humanoid Pokémon with golden skin, pointed ears, wearing brown leather-like clothing emerged, crying, "Alakazam!"

"Alakazam, take the scientist lying on the floor and deposit him a few hundred meters away. Also, make it look like he was a victim of a mugging."

"Kazam," the Pokémon replied.

Gideon then took her aside and asked, "Do you really think the police would go for it? The Unova Region isn't exactly a high crime region."

"It might not be high crime, but crime is not unheard of," Domino replied. "If we make it look like a mugging a ways away from here, they won't come and investigate a lab that has already been shut down."

The duo then waited as Alakazam went followed the command of his master and promptly disappeared, along with the body of the scientist. A few seconds later, Alakazam reappeared. The image of the successful completion of his command was relayed to Domino and she took out her Poké Ball, telling her Pokémon, "Good job." She then went over to the chamber that housed either Genesect, or the genetic material that would be used to resurrect the Pokémon. Both she and Gideon placed their hands on the chamber and told Alakazam, "Take us back to headquarters."

"Kazam," the Pokémon replied, nodding. Gideon, Domino, Alakazam, and the chamber then vanished from the lab, leaving no evidence of Team Rocket's presence.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ash watched as Mia left the stadium and was about to go over to follow her when his mother and his friends, as well as Lance, all came up from behind, his mother giving him a fierce hug. "You did it, honey!" she exclaimed. "You're now the Champion, just like your father when he went on his journey." Just then, Delia suddenly stopped and a confused look crossed her face. What had she said? Ash's father had abandoned them when he was young. He was no one to emulate. At least, that's what she thought she remembered. Suddenly, she was not so sure anymore. Ash did not want to say anything, but he was beginning to grow concerned. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked at her son and her expression returned to normal. "Don't worry, honey, it's nothing. You're a far better young man, and a far better Champion; that's all. I'm so proud of you!" She then hugged him again.

Ash blushed but then returned his mother's hug. Soon, Ash's friends arrived, with May exclaiming, "I can't believe it! You won!"

Dawn also beamed and told him, "You had us worried there for a bit, but you actually did it."

"Congratulations on your win, Ash," Tracey said.

"It was even tougher than my battle against Drake," Ash replied, thinking back on his battle against the leader of the Orange Crew.

"Don't forget, Ash, that we're all holding a celebration in Dragonite Hall at the Indigo Hotel for your thirteenth birthday," Professor Oak reminded him. "Several friends of mine, who are incredible chefs, are going to be cooking an incredible meal for the whole party."

"If you have any last minute invitations that you wish to give, now's the time," Lance told him. "The buffet will be ready not too long from now."

"Thanks, everyone," Ash said in reply. "But before I join you, I want to take Pikachu and the others to the Pokémon Center and have them looked at. If it's alright with you, can we hold off on the celebration until they're ready?"

"Sure thing sweetie," Delia answered for everyone. May and Dawn suppressed groans of hunger, but they could understand why Ash wanted to wait since it was not just a birthday party for him, but a celebration of his victory over the World Pokémon League Champion. His Pokémon were just as important in that win as Ash was, and likely even more so. Ash then gave one more smile and thanked everyone before he turned towards the exit and departed.

As he left, he looked up in the stands, towards the crowd, who had been thinned out greatly, with most of the others already having filed out of the stadium, and searched for that man who had hidden in the shadows. He managed to find what he thought was the man, but it turned out to merely be another spectator. He also saw another spectator that was fully covered with a black cloak, but he could see the man's eyes, which looked to be yellow in color. He also thought he managed to catch some traces of orange hair, likely from a beard or something. The spectator was tall and even though his face was obscured, he looked to be menacing. He soon noticed that the spectator was studying him intently. After a few seconds, the spectator turned away and followed the others out of the stadium. Ash then proceeded to the exit, hurrying as he carried Pikachu in his arms so that the mouse would not have to walk on his own.

Ash exited the main stadium and hurried over to the Pokémon Center. It was still the middle of the day and there were a large number of people at the vendors, buying Pokémon merchandise and other things. A few people tried to get Ash to have his picture taken with them but he quickly fled towards the Pokémon Center, saying that he had to have his Pokémon looked at. While that was true, he also wanted to be able to sit somewhere and think. So many things were going through his mind at the moment that he needed to be alone for a bit so he could make sense of it all. He had not even managed to speak all that coherently to his mother or the rest of his friends, many of who were like family to him. He carried Pikachu in his arms as he made his way to the center, looking down at Pikachu to make sure that he had not sustained any severe injuries since Pikachu had taken the worst of the hits during the battle. The electric mouse smiled weakly, affirming that he was not in any real danger.

It did not take Ash long to arrive at the Pokémon Center and, walking through the sliding door, he quickly made his way towards the front desk. A woman with pink hair tied into two tails that wrapped around to form "0's", blue eyes, and wearing a pink nurse's uniform with a white apron was standing at the desk along with a pink egg-shaped Pokémon known as Chansey. He instantly recognized the nurse as one of the many Nurse Joys that had taken the role of Pokémon nurses throughout all of the regions that he had visited. Out of the corner of his eye, he also found two technicians working on various things behind the desk, one male, the other, female. They were dressed in brown pants and gray shirts and had hats on, with the rims obscuring their faces so it was difficult to identify them. The man had short, lavender hair, most of which was hidden by the cap that he wore, and green eyes. The female technician had magenta hair, though the cap that she wore made it so Ash could not tell that whether or not her hair was short or long. She also had blue eyes. Both of the technicians were wearing glasses. The moment Ash entered, they took notice of him and stopped what they were doing, huddling close together and whispering something before retreating to the back room, likely to check up on the machines in the back. He noticed them retreat but did not think too much of it at the time.

He approached Nurse Joy at the desk and she greeted him, saying, "Welcome. How may I help you?"

"I need you to look after my Pokémon. They just had a difficult battle and need some rest and care," Ash answered.

"I saw the battle," Nurse Joy responded, smiling. "Congratulations on your win, by the way. I'll take care of your Pokémon immediately. You can wait at one of the tables while I look over your Pokémon."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," Ash said as he placed his five Poké Balls into the slots on a metallic tray. She was preparing to take the tray when her eyes caught sight of another person. As if sensing the arrival of another, Ash turned to his left and found Mia standing at the counter, placing six Poké Balls on the counter.

"And how may I help you, Leaf?" the nurse asked.

"Could you take a look at these Pokémon?" Mia requested. "They were in a difficult battle and at the very least need some rest."

"Sure," Joy said, nodding. "I'll take them back along with yours, too, Ash," she added as Chansey brought out another tray for Mia's Poké Balls. Once her Poké Balls were placed on the tray, Joy and Chansey took them to the back room to check up on them, leaving Ash and Mia alone.

Ash quickly scanned the Pokémon Center and found that there was no one else inside. He then focused back on Mia, who went over to a wall near a table and leaned against it, placing one of her feet behind the other and crossing her arms in a typical pose often taken by teenagers who were impatiently waiting for something. The difference with Mia, though, was that Ash got the impression that she was in no hurry whatsoever and that she was simply relaxing. He slowly went over to the table close to her and waited. Her gaze followed him as he walked and he returned it as he took his seat at the table. After a few awkward moments, Ash eventually offered, "You're welcome to sit here while we wait for our Pokémon."

"Friends," Mia said quickly, seemingly as if she were adding to Ash's statement.

Ash merely raised his eyebrows. "Huh?"

"Our Pokémon _friends_ ," the girl clarified. "The Pokémon aren't ours. They belong to themselves, just as we do. They are living, sentient beings. They have all the rights and privileges that we do granted by the United Earth and Galactic Federation Bill of Rights."

Ash almost gave a sarcastic chuckle. "You sound like a member of Team Plasma."

"I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't considered joining them on more than one occasion once I heard of their existence," Mia admitted. "I almost did."

"What stopped you?"

"They were in the Unova Region of America, for starters," she answered. "The other reason was because there was something about the rest of the organization that wasn't quite right. N was fine, if a little naïve. The real issue was…"

"Ghetsis," Ash finished for her.

Mia nodded. "He was the true mastermind, and was merely using Team Plasma to separate Pokémon from humans so that he would be the only one with Pokémon, giving him an advantage for when he tried to take over the region. Despite the fact that he could only have a limited number of Pokémon on hand at any given time, he could still do an awful lot of damage to the region should he have attempted to conquer it. Don't let the 'tame' Pokémon battles we participate in fool you; a Pokémon truly unleashed is a frightening force to face, even if you have guns and other weapons at your disposal, especially if you're dealing with Legendaries. You should know that firsthand."

Ash nodded in agreement. "I do."

The two of them then remained silent as they looked over at the counter, waiting for the checkups and the healing of their Pokémon to be complete. Ash lost track of the time as he eventually looked over at her and heard in his mind, _So, are you going to ask_?

The sudden question appearing in his mind caught him off guard. He could hear the question echo throughout his mind in Mia's voice, but it was something that he was not accustomed to. It was something that was usually reserved for telepaths and psychics like Mewtwo. Though if he and Mia were twins, it could explain her ability to talk to him telepathically, for Ash had encountered twins in the form of Gym Leaders Tate and Liza of Mossdeep Gym in Mossdeep City in the Hoenn Region and it seemed as if they could communicate with each other telepathically. Eventually, Ash responded vocally, "Ask what?"

 _Ask whether or not we're siblings…specifically twins_ , she replied.

"Well, are we?"

Mia nodded. "If you don't believe me, you can take a DNA test. There's a scanner over on that wall," she told him, pointing to a console at the wall at the far end of the center.

"That won't be needed," Ash told her. He focused on her again and found certain memories coming to mind that he had never known before. A memory of a beach came to mind. He was six years old at the time. He remembered it being close to dusk and he was chasing Mia around a large sandcastle that they had spent the entire day building. He had been gaining on her when suddenly, he was swept up by a strong man that was six feet tall, had black hair and kind, blue, eyes. The man was wearing a dark blue bathing suit and a white t-shirt. He was young, in his mid twenties at the oldest. And that was pushing it. His smile was kind and the love he felt for the children was evident in his expression. Ash also made note of a golden ring on his ring finger. There was writing on the band but he could not make it out. "Sorry, Ash, but I can't let little monsters catch my family," he told him in a playful tone, his smile wide and comforting.

Mia's face was aglow as the man rescued her from the rampaging monster that Ash had been playing. Ash then saw a younger version of his mother come to them, a golden ring on her finger along with the same writing. She was clad in a green and white one-piece bathing suit. Ash did not need to see his mother to know that the man was his father. The two then embraced and moved their faces closer together, prompting both Ashes to look away in disgust. Mia quickly turned her head towards Ash and smiled mischievously, causing him to worry a bit. In the memory, he glanced back at his father as he stared into Delia's eyes. His father's appearance was far different from what he had imagined, for his mother had told him that his father left them when he was very young. It was then that he realized that the man he saw in his memory was the same, only a bit younger, as the figure that had been watching him from the stands. He had not gotten a clear view of the man in the stands, but he just knew that it was his father. His eyes went wide at the realization.

Eventually, he told Mia, "I think I saw Dad in the stands at our battle."

This got the girl's attention. "Dad? Are you sure it was him?"

"Not one hundred percent, but from what I remember, it was him," Ash answered.

"You remember Dad?" Mia asked, eying Ash; a hopeful expression on her face. Ash did not notice her expression, though.

"I remembered a beach scene from when we were six," Ash explained. "I was chasing you and Dad came and swept me up, saving you from the 'monster'." He spread out his arms in a way that made him look like a beast of some sort.

As he was explaining the memory, a smile came to Mia's face and she looked away, suppressing a giggle. After a little bit, her face became a little more downcast and she lowered her eyes. "Things were different then," she said wistfully. "We were younger, and we did not carry the responsibilities, or the burdens, that we do today, even though we are still kids."

Ash did not know what Mia was talking about, but his twin bond with her indicated that she was talking about more than the two of them becoming teenagers today. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She turned to face him and her expression darkened, becoming deadly serious. "Ash, you are now the World Pokémon League Champion," she told him. "That means that you are now the face of all of the Pokémon Leagues in the world. In a way, it's fortunate for the Pokémon League that you are the Champion, if I can't be, for I can now see that the bond you share with your Pokémon is second to none, which is essential for the Pokémon Leagues of the world. Now if only you would have shown that in our battle…" she chided.

"Why is it a good thing that I'm the Champion?"

"Because you care about Pokémon," she answered. "And you respect their wishes. Like me, most of your Pokémon joined your team completely voluntarily and, in essence, captured themselves," Mia explained. "That is a rarity among Pokémon Trainers, especially Pokémon Masters. You put a good face on the League, and that's essential given all of the negative press Pokémon Trainers got during the Galactic Federation Civil War."

"What negative press?" he asked, not understanding what she was talking about. "Pokémon Trainers were among the first to face off against Cyrus and the false Federation forces when they invaded Earth."

Mia gave a sigh and looked him in the eye. "During the war, many races in the Galactic Federation had bad opinions of humans, viewing us as hypocrites."

"Why?"

"Because while we say that we value freedom and rights of sentient beings as defined in the Bill of Rights, there are still Pokémon Trainers." came Mia's answer. "Pokémon Trainers own Pokémon. Yes there's a contract between humans and Pokémon in most regions where there is a Pokémon League that must be followed, but it's far from universal. In addition, you might not realize this, but Pokémon _are_ fully sentient beings. This fact is no longer in dispute, if it ever could be, morally. Pokémon can choose between right and wrong, good and evil. They know the consequences of their actions. For examples, look no further than the Meowth of Team Rocket that you brutalize whenever TR tries to steal your Pokémon or someone else's. Even their own Pokémon have rejected orders that they thought went too far."

"I never thought of it like that," Ash said, his eyes showing his surprise. "I mean I know that there are sentient Pokémon. As you mentioned, Pikachu is one, with Meowth of Team Rocket being another." He conspicuously, and purposefully, left absent his knowledge of Mewtwo and other sentient Pokémon that he had encountered. "It's just that I never knew that scientists had declared them sentient."

"That's because you never studied the supplementary materials, or took the tests that all Pokémon Trainers who take a leave of absence from school are given so that they can be eligible for high school or college," Mia answered. "The fact of the matter is that most of the world, and the galaxy, for that matter, has a very negative view on Pokémon Trainers, even the more benevolent ones."

"Why?"

"Because Pokémon Trainers capture Pokémon and use their Poké Balls to imprison them," she answered. "Poké Balls have a special property that causes Pokémon to, in essence, be addicted to them. Should they stray too far away from their balls, an invisible force will draw them back. Should they stay away for too long, they'll begin to have symptoms similar to withdrawal. These issues, however, are ignored once a Pokémon is released and the link between Pokémon and Poké Ball is broken. That's why Team Plasma was going for releasing all of the Pokémon of Unova. With the Pokémon released, there would be no force drawing the Pokémon back to the ball. They would truly be free."

Ash remembered an incident where a Ninetales had been bound to a Poké Ball. "Yeah, I remember," he told her. "There was a Ninetales that was constantly drawn back to its owner's Poké Ball, despite the fact that the owner had died a long time ago. Once the Poké Ball was destroyed, Ninetales was free to explore the region."

Mia nodded. "In essence, this means that a Pokémon Trainer has a secret weapon that can be used to control his or her Pokémon. Yes, a Pokémon can refuse an order, but a Trainer can simply recall the Pokémon into its Poké Ball should the Pokémon get out of line, and keep it trapped inside the ball for a long time to 'teach it a lesson'. It's easy to see how that is seen as slavery."

Ash nodded. He had never thought about such things before. He had always viewed being a Pokémon Trainer as a noble profession and once in a lifetime chance. Almost all of the powerful and elite Trainers he had ever encountered were nice to their Pokémon and viewed them as equals and friends, not as servants. He had always thought that Pokémon Trainers, as a whole, were highly respected. If they were looked down upon so much by the rest of the world, the world was hiding it quite well. "So, what am I supposed to do as Champion?" Ash asked.

"Be yourself," Mia answered with a genuine smile. "And disable the seals on the Poké Balls that draws a Pokémon back to it, just as I did. That will show everyone that you and your Pokémon are team of equals, rather than master and servant."

"Okay," Ash replied with a nod.

The two then smiled and passed the time by looking around the Pokémon Center as they waited for their Pokémon to be ready. The Center was sparsely populated and only a couple of people had come in since Ash and Mia had arrived, but they looked to simply be using it as a rest stop and place to pick up a meal.

After about ten more minutes or so of waiting, Mia checked her watch while Ash looked at the clock. Mia's arms were still crossed, but her expression changed from one of simply waiting to one of impatience, and even some suspicion. Even with double the load, it should not have taken this long for them to hear back from Nurse Joy, especially since none of their Pokémon had sustained any serious injuries from the battle. She headed over to the desk so she could send a call to Joy, but as she arrived, the nurse came to the desk, followed by Chansey, who was pushing a tray holding two boxes that were full of Poké Balls. Sitting on top of one of the trays, though, was Pikachu. "Your Pokémon are fully rested and healthy," Nurse Joy told the two teens.

"Was there anything wrong with any of them?" asked Mia, who was concerned for her Pokémon since they had been kept in back for such a long time.

Joy shook her head. "No, everything checked out just fine," she answered. "Since I saw the battle, though, I just wanted to make sure that there were no residual effects for those who were afflicted with paralysis or poisoning."

"Okay. Thank you," Mia responded answered. Joy then handed Ash and Mia the trays and they each took their Poké Balls. Ash clipped his balls to his waist, with Pikachu jumping up onto his shoulder, while Mia let out each of her Pokémon, two at a time. The two then proceeded to leave the center, Mia's Pokémon following her, with Nurse Joy calling after them, "If your Pokémon have any problems, come back and see me." Both Ash and Mia turned and gave her a nod before walking through the sliding doors and exiting the center. As they left, the two technicians had come back to the front. The man with lavender hair flipped up the collar of his shirt and spoke into a small microphone, "It's time. Go," in a sinister tone.

Outside the Pokémon Center, Ash and Mia were about to head their separate ways when Ash turned to his sister and asked, "So Mia, what're your plans?"

"I'm going to stay here for the time being and continue doing some research around the plateau," she answered.

"What are you researching?"

"The origin of Pokémon," she replied. "There are things about the various Pokémon legends that we have been told about ancient civilizations that don't add up when put together."

"Whadaya mean?" Ash asked.

"It's all very complicated," she responded, thinking that Ash would not be able to understand the whole explanation. As such, she simplified it into, "It's just that certain evidence seems to go against there being very old civilizations based on Pokémon, possibly save for Mew, the Creation Trio, and possibly Arceus. Though certain recent events indicate that Arceus may not be what some legends claim."

"What do you mean?"

"On the eve of the Galactic Federation Civil War, just after Elric had died, Cyrus of Team Galactic had summoned Dark Arceus, an Arceus that was naturally of the Dark-type, but could use plates to switch to any type he wished, to this world," she explained. "Dark Arceus was also an evil counterpart to the normal Arceus that you encountered in Michina Town, and far more powerful, having the power of all of the plates. This one had powers closer to those spoken of in legends. He broke free of Cyrus's control almost immediately and was about to destroy the world when a Pokémon called Mewtwo appeared and fought him. After a long a difficult battle, Mewtwo defeated him, killing him in the process, and saved the universe."

"Wow, I never knew that," Ash replied.

"Few people do," Mia told him. "I only found out from a Mew who had saved me from being killed by Elric's Watchmen literally hours before the battle."

The two remained still for a few seconds before Ash looked over at her and asked, "So, Mia, do you wanna come over to my, or should I say, _our_ birthday party?" His eyes were bright and his smile hopeful as he asked. "It's your party, too, especially since we're twins and our Pokémon battle ended in a draw. I only won when it came to the tiebreaker fight, a fight where you held back."

"No more than you," Mia retorted with a smile. "And likely less."

"So, are you gonna come?"

Mia thought about Ash's offer for a few seconds before deciding, "Sure, I'll come."

"Yes!" Ash cheered, jumping into the air. Pikachu, however, was less than enthusiastic about Mia accepting the offer, still remembering how she had restrained him while Tyranitar had blasted him with a Stone Edge attack, knocking him out. He cringed, for he still did not trust Mia, despite her relation to Ash. In addition, he was mistrustful of her Pokémon as well, particularly Tyranitar, who seemed to always be eager for a fight.

Ash went over to her and said, "C'mon, the others are waiting." He then rushed towards the hotel where they were going to celebrate. "Race you to it!" he called over to her in challenge.

Mia merely gave a smile, not taking the bait. She knew that he would call her a coward for not taking the challenge, but she wanted to let her Pokémon roam around outside of their Poké Balls. She did not know if all of them would be able to rush after the two of them. Besides, there were other issues that she was concerned about. She turned and looked up at one of the buildings behind her and saw the rippling of a cloak as a figure ducked behind a chimney. Before following Ash, she told Starmie and Chandelure, "Stay alert. I think we're being followed. Alert me if you sense anything suspicious."

Chandelure bobbed up and down, as did Starmie, affirming her warning and command. She and the others then followed Ash, who had slowed down once he realized that she was not going to race him, at a leisurely pace. She was still on edge, though, knowing that there were likely only two people who would be following her right now, and be able to stay out of sight. One was good, the other was an evil far more dangerous than Ash or anyone on Earth, save for someone like Mewtwo, could possibly imagine. With that sense of foreboding, she caught up with Ash and walked with him to the hotel.

Not too far away from the two teens, the two workers from the Pokémon Center emerged from around the corner of a building and watched as they raced towards the hotel. Standing in front of them was a Meowth, a bipedal tan furred cat-like Pokémon with a gold charm on the top of its head. The two humans standing behind the Meowth all had sinister looks on their faces as they followed the teens at a distance, being careful to stay as far behind as they could, for Mia was constantly looking over her shoulder at random intervals and seemed to be communicating with her Chandelure, something that put them ill at ease. Still, they were primarily interested not in the girl, but in Ash, for they had a long history with him.

"Looks like the twerp has a girlfriend," Jessie, the woman with long, magenta hair stated.

"And she seems to be very cautious," James, the young man with lavender hair responded. "Still, if we jump them now, we might be able to get Pikachu, or possibly one of the other Pokémon."

"If ya wanted Pikachu, you shoulda grabbed him while he was bein' looked at in the Pokeemon Center," Meowth blurted, drawing a look of scorn from Jessie. "If we go now, we'd just be in for a woild of hoit. The so-called former champ, Leaf's, no slouch."

"Still, we would at the very least equal them in numbers," Jessie noted.

"And we could set up a trap to separate them from their Pokémon," James added.

Meowth turned to them and glared. "Yeah, but da boss told us to merely spy on them and infiltrate their party. He has somethin' special planned for 'em. We don't wanna screw this up. Let's just stick to the plan and infiltrate this party. If da boss is right, then Team Rocket'll be able ta score a knockout blow ta the enemy with one strike."

The humans nodded as they continued to follow the teens as they headed to the hotel, being careful to stay as far back as possible, as well as keep their minds clear so that any evil intentions would not be picked up by any Psychic-type Pokémon that the teens, or anyone else at the party, may have had.

Meanwhile, over in a ruined building in small town not too far away from the Indigo Plateau, a mysterious figure wearing a cloak stood in the center of an empty room, the only furniture being a small table upon which a crystal ball was placed. The figure gazed into the crystal ball and looked at the scene of Ash and Mia walking towards the hotel. The image soon shifted towards a tall building in the same town as he sensed the arrival of two members of Team Rocket, and a Pokémon that was being kept in suspension. He grinned. It would not be long now, for while he had not had any particular interest in the teens or Team Rocket, yet, their actions were almost certain to draw the attention of his true interest. Looking back at the hotel, he saw another figure not too far away from the children. He was about to look more closely when he suddenly recognized the figure and peeled his gaze away.

"No way," he muttered quietly. "Of all the people to appear here now, why did it have to be him?"

He quickly diverted his gaze and focused back in on Team Rocket. The Elite Officer was now headed to Giovanni's office to make her report. He knew that the time would soon come for him to reveal himself to Team Rocket's boss. While he had hoped that Giovanni would be successful in his plans without needing his help, he knew that there was no way for his own desires to be fulfilled if Giovanni had won as he had expected. Giovanni had to be guided to his victory, or at least come close enough to draw his true target into the open. This plan had been in the process of being formulated since the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. He had already taken several steps to ensure that Giovanni would achieve his goals, at least in the short term. In the long term, though, he had no wishes beyond the destruction of his target. However, if Earth found itself embroiled in a civil war and was devastated, he would not complain. After all, if the right targets were killed, then things would be all that much better for his own people. All he had to do now was wait and see what happened.

Not too far away from Ash and Mia, a man with green skin, orange hair and a beard watched from the top of one of the buildings. He looked down at the two teenagers as they raced towards the hotel and grinned evilly. For a scant moment, he felt the gaze of another upon him. He could feel that this individual was quite powerful, too. He considered tracing the scan back to it source, but he decided against it when the scan was abruptly halted. He grinned, figuring that whoever it was must have heard of him and decided not to risk a confrontation. He then refocused back on Ash and Mia. He soon sensed that Mia, or one of her Pokémon, must have sensed or spotted him and he backed off a bit, suppressing his power so that he would be harder to track. Just as he had done so, he sensed the arrival of another on the rooftop. Looking back, he saw a human male in his early thirties with black hair, blue eyes, wearing a red and white jacket over a black shirt, and jeans. Surprised by the new arrival, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

The man answered, "I was sent here by Master Hand to assist in acquiring new troops for the army. What are you doing here, Ganondorf?" the man asked the Gerudo King.

"The same thing as you, it seems," Ganondorf retorted.

"Then why are you focusing on two kids?" the human asked.

"Because those kids are Chosen Heroes, as is the boy's Pikachu," Ganondorf answered with a smirk. "If either of them can be turned, they would be great assets, especially if we get their Pokémon as well. That Pikachu would also make a great prize."

"I see," the man said.

Ganondorf merely smirked. "If you're here to secure new troops, then start securing them," Ganondorf suggested in a tone that made it sound more like an order than a suggestion.

"You're quite right," the man said. He then turned to depart. As he departed, he looked back at Ganondorf and said quietly, and inaudibly to the Gerudo King, "Leave my family out of this. They are no threat to you." With that, the man left and Ganondorf continued to spy on the two Trainers as they continued towards the hotel.

Meanwhile, back in Team Rocket Headquarters, Domino stood inside a large room with a single desk near a large, glass window. The window showed a wide expanse, as well as most of the Indigo Plateau. Domino went over to a tall man with short brown hair, black eyes dressed in a dark gray to nearly black suit with two sets of buttons coming down the left and right parts of his jacket, who was sitting at his desk, looking over a series of reports. Sitting next to him on the floor was a cat-like Pokémon with short, tan fur and a red jewel in the middle of its forehead called a Persian. It was purring as the leader of Team Rocket absently pet it on its head. Domino stopped at the entrance, knocked on the door, then waited. "Enter," came Giovanni's reply.

She stepped into the room and reported, "Giovanni, sir, you wished for me to see you upon my return."

"Yes," he said in a grave tone. "And…?"

"Our mission was a success. We recovered the Genesect and all of the data files that went with the research towards the Pokémon. Science Division is already studying the data. They should have a preliminary report shortly."

"Were you seen?"

"We encountered a single scientist, but I killed him. I also made it look like he was a victim of a mugging so no one would suspect that it was us."

"Good," Giovanni said with stern satisfaction. "With Genesect under our control, we'll have one of the ultimate Pokémon for use in our mission. And with the data for cloning it as well, we will be able to create more than one should the need arise."

Domino grinned as Giovanni's face split into a grin. She then waited to see if he needed anything else from her, which he did. He then spoke again, "I wish I could say that your work is finished, but this is only part of our plan. I have another task for you."

"What is it, sir?"

"Jessie, James, and Meowth are infiltrating a party that is said to be being held by the mother of Ash Ketchum, the new World Pokémon League Champion. Not only that, but sources indicate that Leaf will also be attending the party, too."

"Those three?" Domino blurted, unable to hide her shock. "Are you sure they're up for the task? They're incompetent morons! This mission is too important to risk _them_ being on it and screwing it up." There was also something else. For a moment, she thought that she might have known the name, Ash Ketchum, from somewhere. She then shook off the thought and returned her attention to her boss.

"Perhaps," Giovanni said in response to her concern, not disagreeing with her assessment of their capabilities. "But they managed to not fail too badly in Unova. Even so, they are merely workers that will assist our forces in gaining entry to the hotel and the party."

"I understand, sir," Domino said. "Are there any other special orders or mission objectives?"

"No," came Giovanni's answer. "Your only goal is to eliminate as many of the Elite Trainers gathered there as possible, particularly Leaf, Ash, and Lance and Cynthia if they show up. Their demise is our primary concern. This Ash Ketchum has a number of friends among the Gym Leaders of the Kanto, Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos Regions. These Gym Leaders are also the most likely source of resistance to us for when we finally make our move. They must be dealt with, the sooner, the better."

"Understood, sir," Domino replied, bowing once more towards Giovanni. As she departed, she could not help but give a sinister smile. Finally, she would be getting some real action once more.

Once Domino had departed, Giovanni went over and sat in his chair. His Persian came over and sat close to him. He absently pet his Pokémon and said, "Soon, soon the time of Team Rocket will come, and our previous failures will be things of the past." He then sat back and relaxed in his chair.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

As Ash and Mia continued on their way towards the hotel, Mia told Ash about the responsibilities of being the new World Pokémon League Champion. In her speech, she informed him that the World Pokémon League was relatively new and was an attempt by the various Pokémon Leagues to put a kinder face on Pokémon Trainers of the world. It would be his duty to help the League and others stop the illegal Pokémon trade and take down criminal organizations like Team Rocket. She also told him that while many criminal organizations had already been dealt with, that there were new ones constantly popping up, with many less than reputable Trainers and Pokémon joining them. The amount of responsibilities that came to a Champion came as a surprise to him. He knew that some Champions had taken interests in stopping criminal organizations like Team Rocket, but that was mainly due to their own interests coinciding with stopping the organizations, and mostly only on a small scale.

As they continued to travel, though, Ash knew that Mia was quite different from many of the Champions that he had heard of. While many of the Champions were reactionary, she was proactive. She actively sought out the criminal organizations before they could put their plans into action and stopped them. He also learned that even before she had become the World Pokémon League Champion, she had practically destroyed Team Rocket, forcing them to rely on agents like Jessie, James, and Meowth to scout out the Unova Region for not only possible expansion, but also for a secondary headquarters should their Kanto headquarters fall. "So, what's the status of Team Rocket now?" Ash asked after Mia had finished her speech.

"They're in trouble," she answered. "But they're not gone yet. They have supposedly been destroyed and disbanded twice…three times if you count the short-lived attempt to reorganize on the Sevii Islands. Of all of the major criminal organizations that make extensive use of Pokémon, Team Rocket is the longest lasting, and quite possibly the most dangerous due to the fact that they have yet to truly be destroyed. Not only that, but Giovanni has political connections. That's why even when he has been captured, he has never gone to trial. Even so, though, Team Rocket is merely a shadow of its former self. Hopefully, it will soon be nothing more than a bad memory."

"So what are your plans once the party is over?"

"As I've told you before, nothing much," Mia replied distantly. "I'm probably going to study more Pokémon legends and see how they connect, if they connect, and what their origins may have been. Why?"

Ash gave her an awkward glance before answering, "I was wondering if you'd want to come back home after the party. Mom'll really want to catch up with you."

Mia then looked downcast and a slight frown crossed her face. Noticing her sudden change in expression, he asked in a concerned tone, "What is it?"

Mia was silent for several moments. She looked up at him with a sad expression etched on her face. Ash backed away a bit, wondering if he had offended her or done something else wrong before she finally gave an answer, "I don't even know if Mom knows that I exist."

He was incredulous. "What makes you say that?" he asked, shocked at her reply.

"Did you have any inkling that you had a sister, much less a twin sister, until our battle?" she responded sadly.

"Good point," Ash replied gloomily with a shrug.

Mia continued to look down at the ground a bit before quietly adding, "And there's another issue that I don't want to talk about as well."

Not having heard Mia's last statement, Ash thought back on the recent events that had transpired and wondered how it was possible for him to forget that he had had a twin sister. It boggled his mind. There was no way he should have simply forgotten something like that, even if there was some traumatic memory, especially since she had not been killed or had anything else done to her, that he knew of. He doubted that it was simple amnesia, since he had memories from when he was young, younger than he was when he had his last memory of Mia, and that she was not in any of those memories. Yet now, those same memories were beginning to have her appear in them, such as the memory of them playing on the beach with their parents watching. Still, despite the fact that he now knew about her and that certain memories were coming back to him, there were still many blanks to fill in. He still did not know why he had forgotten her in the first place. Had she been kidnapped, or gravely injured and presumed dead? He doubted the latter, since she showed no sign of having any scars anywhere on her body, and the former did not make much sense on its own either. There had to be more to it than that, for neither of those things would likely have caused him to forget about her entirely. And there was also the fact that there were no pictures of her in their home. Thinking back on it, he also realized that there were no pictures of their father, either, but that was another issue. He tried to think back on what could have happened but nothing came to mind.

Eventually, he asked, "Mia, what happened all those years ago? Do you have any idea why and/or how I could have forgotten you?"

Mia stopped and then looked back at him. She answered in a hard voice that was not directed at him, "I was kidnapped by agents of Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?" Ash gasped. He had never heard of Team Rocket kidnapping people, particularly children, before. He thought that they were mostly after Pokémon and that their goal was world domination.

Mia nodded in affirmation of his question. "Why?" Ash asked. "Team Rocket is mostly associated with Pokémon and the illegal Pokémon trade. Their goal is to conquer the world. Why would they kidnap you?"

"Because they wanted to have a series of Pokémon Trainers infiltrate the Pokémon League and take it over from the inside, and I happened to have the right personality and skills," she answered harshly, much more so than she had intended. It was obvious that this conversation was bringing back painful memories.

Ash's eyes went wide with shock at her blurt. Seeing his reaction, she calmed down, apologizing, and saying, "I'm sorry. It's just that that time was tough. They tried to make me into a monster, trying to get us to abuse humans and Pokémon alike, punishing us should we not do as they commanded. And oftentimes, the punishment was the abuse of someone else instead, either a child or Pokémon, rather than us directly. Perhaps they succeeded," she added under her breath. She quickly got back to the story without missing a beat, continuing where she had left off, "I escaped fairly quickly, along with several other children. Others, however, stayed behind, some of them voluntarily. Some of those that stayed behind also managed to infiltrate my group and sold us out when we made our escape attempt." She then looked down at the ground and continued, "As a result, we had to fight our kidnappers, as well as the turncoats, in order to escape." A dark grin then crossed her face as she looked up at him and continued, "Fortunately, all of the kids that came with me managed to escape alive and unharmed. Team Rocket, on the other hand, suffered several fatalities, including two Team Rocket Executives and one of the children that chosen to stay behind and betray us. I dealt with him, myself." Her dark grin and the happy tone she used at the mention of having dealt with the traitor of the group, with the implication being that she had killed him, unnerved Ash quite a bit. She turned to him and gave a kind smile. "But enough about my so-called sob story. How have you been?"

"Fine, I guess," he answered with a nervous chuckle, not really knowing how to follow Mia's story. "I've just become the World Pokémon League Champion," he added with a chuckle. He noticed Mia give a slight smile. "Other than that, I've had a normal life for a Pokémon Trainer. I've entered numerous leagues, only winning a couple of them, before coming back home to challenge and beat the Kanto League and later becoming the World Champion, of course. The Orange League was the first. I've made many new Pokémon friends and have a powerful team, plus many powerful reserves."

Looking over to see his sister's reaction, he found that her expression had not changed. "I see," was all she said in response. Ash tried to utilize his twin bond with her to see what she was thinking, but her mind was closed; either that, or he was simply not experienced enough in using the bond to be able to read her thoughts directly. The two then continued to walk towards the hotel where his mother and Professor Oak were planning his victory celebration and birthday party. As they walked, Ash looked over at Mia to see how she was doing. He noticed that a dark smile was still etched onto her face. While he knew that she had no ill intentions for him or the rest of the family, there was still something unnerving about her.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Giovanni entered the lab area of Team Rocket's current headquarters, where several scientists were hard at work studying the Pokémon inside the large tube. Only the face of the Pokémon would be visible, and only if one looked down at the semi-transparent window. However, there were several diagrams and computer images of the Pokémon on the screens all around the room. As he entered, he glanced around the room and saw the scientists hard at work studying the Pokémon inside the tank in the center of the room. He quickly found Gideon looking over some reports and directing the other scientists and went over to him. As he neared the scientist, he asked, "So, what have you got so far?"

Gideon nearly jumped at the sound of Giovanni's voice. He quickly turned around and saw that Giovanni was waiting for his response. Quickly regaining his composure, he replied, "Well, we haven't had all that much time to work on the Pokémon, but from what we've seen so far, it looks like Genesect was the perfect predator of its time. However, Team Plasma definitely was making some modifications to the Pokémon."

"That doesn't seem like them," Giovanni noted almost absently.

"I know," Gideon agreed. "That's probably why the project was scrapped by N," he added with a chuckle.

Giovanni echoed the lead scientist's chuckle. "And you found this out, how?" the Rocket Boss asked.

"There were several reports that came with Genesect. Domino and I made certain to download them all so that we would have all the information we needed in order to restore this Pokémon fully and use it properly."

Giovanni gave a curt nod and went over to check the screen, which showed a computer-generated image of Genesect. The image showed the form of the Pokémon, highlighting certain parts of it, parts that looked to be mechanical in nature. "It seems as if they were performing cybernetic enhancements on it," he noted, examining the image.

Gideon nodded. "They were. Most notable is the cannon on its head."

Giovanni grinned as he listened to Gideon's description and looked over the fearsome-looking Genesect. "How strong is it?"

"We don't know for certain," Gideon answered, "but given all of the preliminary data that we've obtained, it's very strong. I don't know if it would stand up to Legendary Pokémon like Reshiram, Zekrom, or Pokémon in that class, but it'll definitely be a threat to Legendaries like the Legendary Beasts such as Raikou and Suicune, cute Legendaries, or many other normal Legendaries that don't have a type advantage against it."

"What about the Creation Trio or some of the other Super Legendaries?"

"Again, I don't know," Gideon answered, shrugging. "Some of the Super Legendaries are quite powerful. Still, unless there's a rash of Legendary Pokémon Trainers, Genesect will be a tremendous boon to Team Rocket, and exceedingly difficult to take down."

"Excellent," Giovanni cooed, grinning.

"And that's not all," Gideon continued. He then motioned for Giovanni to follow him to a computer on the right side of the room, which the Team Rocket leader did. Once they arrived at the computer, Gideon input a few commands on the keyboard and a series of letters and numbers appeared on the screen.

"What is this?" Giovanni asked.

"We didn't know, at first; which is why we didn't focus much on it until now."

Giovanni was getting impatient. "So, what is it?"

"It's code for a program that would release all of the Pokémon of the Unova Region from their storage in PCs. In addition, a modification was made that would free them from Poké Balls, too. In addition, any form of control over that Pokémon, be it based on Poké Balls, the computer, or even badges, would be gone," Gideon answered.

Giovanni's eyes went wide in shock. "So _this_ is what Team Plasma was working on before they were disbanded."

Gideon nodded. "This is the Holy Grail of Pokémon freedom," Gideon proclaimed. "Or control," he added darkly. "If we can modify this program to be useful in Kanto, as well as to enslave, rather than free, the Pokémon, we could use it to literally make all Pokémon that are controlled by a Pokémon Trainer to become the property of Team Rocket." Seeing Giovanni's grin widen, he continued, "I already took the liberty of having all of our IT specialists study this code and learn how to modify it to be useful in Kanto. They are working on it as we speak."

"Tell them to expand it to the entire world," Giovanni commanded in an excited tone. "Bring in anyone and everyone that you need to get this done."

The command took Gideon off guard a little. "Okay," he stammered. "It may take some time to expand the protocols to the rest of the world. Even once we get all of it working, we aren't certain that it will work for Kanto, much less the rest of Japan or even the world. In addition, there are still sections of code that appear to be missing or garbled, so that will have to be worked out, too. Also, for this to work, we'll have to build our own computer network so that we can store the Pokémon inside the computer. And there is still the possibility of the Pokémon simply refusing our commands. We'll need to find some way to control the Pokémon once we get them into our network."

"That won't be a problem," Giovanni exclaimed. "Just do it! This could be the key to us finally conquering the entire world after so many failures and near collapses. Even if our current plan fails, we'll still have a good shot at succeeding if we can modify this program and execute it."

"Even with all Trainer owned Pokémon under our control, we'd still have to deal with the Earth's military," Gideon noted. "And even if we conquered the Earth, we'd then have to deal with the Galactic Federation."

Giovanni grinned again. "Fortunately, Silph Corporation is working on a new version of the Master Ball that will help us in that regard. The new Master Ball they are producing can capture any Pokémon that we encounter without fail, even if that Pokémon is a Legendary Pokémon. Not only that, but those Pokémon will be directly under our control, thanks to your Badge Amplifier, so they'll fight alongside us. They will be great assets when the Galactic Federation comes to try to stop us."

"Let's hope so," Gideon said. Once he was finished his tour, Giovanni left the lab and went back to his office so he could plan his next move, a grin plastered on his face. Finally, things were looking up.

Back over on the Indigo Plateau, Ash and Mia entered the hotel and were making their way to the dinner hall. They went past the check-in desk, Ash pulling out and presenting his ID card, at the receptionist's desk, and continuing down the hall until he came to an escalator. As Mia's Pokémon tried to pass with her, though, a female receptionist with light brown hair called out, "Excuse me, miss, but your Pokémon will have to be confined to their Poké Balls while you are in the hallways."

"What?" Mia blurted. "I thought that hotels on the Indigo Plateau allowed Pokémon to be outside of their Poké Balls!"

"Inside specially designated rooms, yes, but inside the hallways, the Pokémon must be confined to their Poké Balls. It's to keep everything neat."

A part of Mia wanted to argue the point, but her Pokémon made the decision to let the argument lie a little easier as Tyranitar and Chandelure each went back into their Poké Balls without complaint. Mia then gripped her remaining balls and told everyone, "Okay everyone, as long we're in the halls, you'll have to be in your balls."

The rest of her Pokémon had no complaints and each went into their Poké Balls without protest. Once they were inside, she clipped them back to the belt around her skirt and rushed after Ash.

While Mia had been stopped at reception, Ash walked down the hall, gazing in awe all around the hotel's lobby and hall. This was not like the small guesthouse that he had been staying in during time on the Plateau during his Elite Four and Champion battles. This was a five-star hotel. He wondered how his mother could afford such accommodations. Looking over at Pikachu, he could see Pikachu's eyes sparkling in wonder at the scenery. He looked behind him and saw Mia rushing after him. She looked at him and quickly noticed that Pikachu had not been requested to be placed back inside his Poké Ball. She scowled. _So Pokémon who are cute and cuddly are allowed to remain outside of their Poké Balls in this hotel but the big and strong ones aren't_ , she almost seethed. She promptly continued down the hallway, glaring at Pikachu, causing the electric mouse to quickly recoil and turn away.

Mia quickly caught up with Ash and rushed by as he was gazing at the scenery. Seeing that he was moving a little too slowly, she gripped his arm and pulled him along. He shrugged and staggered forward enough so that she would not have to keep pulling. He could tell that she was annoyed but did not know why, and was smart enough not to ask. Once he had regained his footing and was keeping up, Mia let him go and the two of them quickly arrived at the escalator. They stepped on the escalator and let it carry them down to the hotel's lower level. As they were riding down, Ash looked out over the side at the various advertisements on the side. Numerous shows and conventions were being advertised, as well as the next challenge for the Elite Four. This one, though, was merely a challenge of the Kanto Elite Four. Looking over at Mia, he found that she was already down the escalator, looking back at him with an annoyed expression. "Come on," she bellowed. "Let's get going. We have a birthday to celebrate! Or rather, two!"

He then rushed down the escalator, quickly catching up to her once more before she turned to right and performed a U-turn, heading down a short corridor. Neither of the twins stopped to look at the scenery and instead, surged forward to the end of the corridor and took the right at its end, entering the final corridor. To the right were two large doors that led to the hall where the celebration was going to take place. Over the doors was a sign that read _Dragonite Hall_. Ash and Mia approached the closest of the large doors and pushed them open when they arrived, and went into the hall.

The interior of the hall was bright and there were rows of tables and lines of trays that had food of all sorts, both for humans as well as Pokémon. As soon as Ash entered, the everyone inside turned to face the door and, seeing him, cried, "Happy birthday!" Delia rushed over to her son and gave him a fierce hug. "Happy birthday, honey," she said as she hugged him. "And congratulations on your big win," she added. Ash looked around and saw the rest of the party beaming. He smiled as he saw all of his friends standing and looking at him. In the year or so since he had seen many of them, they had not changed too much. He also noticed that they all had their Pokémon out.

He soon heard the openings of several Poké Balls behind him and saw that each of Mia's Pokémon appear on the floor, which caused several of the guests and chefs to recoil in surprise. Each of her Pokémon went over to the buffet trays that had Pokémon food, as well as some food for the human guests, and proceeded to grab large handfuls of food and eat right in front of the trays. A few of Ash's friends' Pokémon got annoyed and went up to try to stop Mia's Pokémon from hogging the food. One Pokémon in particular, Dawn's Piplup, a small blue bipedal penguin-like Pokémon, went over to Tyranitar, who was standing over one of the trays of Pokémon food and devouring large portions of it and tried to get him to move. Piplup gave a series of cries and comically tried to move the large Pokémon with no success. Tyranitar barely noticed the penguin, and did not know, or care, that he was blocking the tray. Piplup soon yelled at him again, drawing a bark from Tyranitar, who thought that Piplup wanted some food and still had enough space to get some food. He even moved a step to his left to accommodate the small Pokémon but did no more as he still continued to eat from the tray. Piplup refused to back down and then began to argue with him about his eating of all the food. Piplup's high voice made him sound like a small child, rather than a decently powerful Pokémon that Tyranitar would take seriously. The Rock/Dark-type Pokémon gave a shrug and ignored the penguin's complaints as he continued to eat, stepping to his left once more to give the penguin some space, though it was not enough in Piplup's eyes. Piplup yelled at him some more, which only prompted Tyranitar to turn and emit a loud roar in Piplup's direction, which nearly knocked the penguin off his feet. He then turned back to the tray and continued eating, this time making sure to block it completely so that no one could get to it at all.

Piplup quickly recovered and was seething with rage. He gave a loud cry before unleashing a vicious stream of bubbles towards Tyranitar. The Bubble Beam scored a direct hit on Tyranitar's back, but did not inflict any real damage. All it did was push Tyranitar a little over the tray, which only served to get his attention and annoy him. The large Pokémon turned and glared menacingly down at Piplup, who recoiled in surprise at the ineffectiveness of what should have been a super effective attack against the Rock/Dark-type. Piplup began to inch away in fear from Tyranitar before he stopped and a scowl crossed his. He would not let this perceived bully simply walk all over him like this. Piplup looked Tyranitar in the eyes and glared. Tyranitar merely grinned, knowing that there was nothing Piplup could do to defeat him. He could take over a dozen of those Bubble Beams before feeling any real strain. Piplup was a Contest Pokémon, not a fighter like he was.

Before the incident escalated any further, Mia looked over at Tyranitar and called, "Tyranitar!"

The large Pokémon looked back at the girl, who was shaking her head and scowling, indicating that he should control himself and not get drawn into a fight. He returned her scowl and then looked back at the penguin, who was now flanked by Lopunny, a brown bi-pedal rabbit-like Pokémon that looked to be the size of a human, Togekiss, a large white bird with markings on its abdomen, and a Typhlosion, a bipedal Pokémon that could also walk on all fours. It had a bear-like physique with a collar of fire surrounding its neck. Its face, underside, arms, and legs, were cream colored, with a dark bluish gray back. Physically, it was similar to either wolverines or badgers. Each of the Pokémon glared at Tyranitar and looked as if they were preparing to attack, which only caused Tyranitar to grin and prepare for battle. Despite Mia's warning, he would not let this challenge go unanswered.

Seeing the commotion not too far away, Venusaur and Chandelure quickly joined their comrade and faced off against Piplup and his friends, hoping that their presence would decrease the tensions, since they doubted that anyone wanted a serious fight to break out at a time of celebration. As soon as they joined with Tyranitar, Piplup and his friends were beginning to power a series of attacks, which prompted Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure to respond in kind. The burgeoning skirmish quickly caught the attention of Dawn, who quickly went over to the battle and asked, "Hey Piplup, what's going on?"

Piplup turned and noticed Dawn coming and rushed over to her. Once he arrived, he pointed at Tyranitar and the others and told Dawn what had happened. She did not immediately understand what Piplup was saying, but was quickly able to translate when she saw three fearsome Pokémon squaring off in preparation for a battle. She patted Piplup on the head, calming him down, and told him, "Don't worry. I'll handle this." She then called over her two remaining Pokémon, "Mamoswine, Pachirisu, we could use your help."

Just then, a large Pokémon that looked like it was a cross between a wooly mammoth and a boar with thick brown fur, two long tusks, and a mask-like appearance to its face, and a white squirrel-like Pokémon with a blue stripe that extended from its forehead all the way to its tail, a large white tooth, and yellow cheeks joined Dawn as she went over to Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure. "We don't take kindly to party crashers," Dawn said, glaring at Tyranitar. "Who are you, what are you doing here, and how did you get in?" she asked harshly, not taking kindly to the trio.

Tyranitar shrugged and gave a deep-throated response, which came out as a series of grunts and roars. He knew that his language could not be understood by humans, and that it was gibberish to them, but he did not want to engage in a battle if he could reasonably avoid it. All he really wanted was to have a decent meal and to be left alone. In his mind, he had even given the penguin enough space to get some food from the tray. The other two Pokémon merely said that they were coming to back up Tyranitar and did not want a fight to break out. Dawn managed to glean what Tyranitar was saying, but was still skeptical of him, despite the fact that Tyranitar was not pushing the issue with Piplup and had yet to actually retaliate by launching an actual attack.

Seeing that Piplup had gotten additional reinforcements, Tyranitar, Venusaur, and Chandelure assumed fighter's stances when new arrivals in the form of Charizard and Pikachu came over and stood in between the two sides. Pikachu talked to Piplup and the rest of Dawn's team while Charizard did his best to calm Mia's Pokémon. Despite Pikachu and Charizard's pleas, though, the two groups were still preparing to do battle when they heard Mia's voice call out over the din, "Okay, cool it everyone, now, or _I'll_ end the battle for you!"

Both groups looked over at Mia, who was approaching the two groups of Pokémon with two Poké Balls in her hands, as well as having her backpack open incase she needed stronger means of stopping any potential fighting. Glancing over at Mia and seeing how serious she was, Tyranitar backed down and looked over at her, glaring for a moment before he gave a stiff bow her way. This prompted Venusaur and Chandelure to back down as well and walk away from the fight. They simply went to another tray and proceeded to eat some more food. Tyranitar, however, continued to glare at Piplup as Dawn went over and set down a bowl of Pokémon food for him. After placing the bowl in front of Piplup, who quickly dove into the food, she looked up and noticed that the girl that had intervened in the battle was none other than Leaf, Ash's opponent from the Championship battle.

Back near Mia, Tyranitar considered going over and take some food from the annoying penguin-like Pokémon for a fleeting moment, but Mia's glare quickly banished any thought of any more dealings with Piplup. "Don't even think about it," she warned.

Tyranitar gave a grunt and proceeded to walk over to the corner to sulk. Mia then went over to Dawn, who was shocked to learn that the newcomer was none other than Ash's opponent in the league. She did not care about Dawn's surprise and simply apologized for Tyranitar, saying, "I apologize for Tyranitar's behavior. I won't let another incident like this happen again."

Dawn was surprised by Mia's apology. Seeing that there was no harm inflicted to Piplup, though, she decided to let the issue with Tyranitar lie. "That's no problem." A more stern expression soon crossed her face, though, as she continued, "The issue now is, how did you get in here? This party is by invitation only."

"I was invited," Mia told Dawn in a soft voice that if Ash had heard would have sounded quite out of character for her.

"By whom?"

"By Ash," Mia answered.

"Ash invited you?" Dawn asked, almost shocked at the revelation. "When?"

Mia hesitated for a moment before answering, since she did not want to reveal her connections to him so quickly. "Not too long ago," she eventually answered.

Dawn merely gave a little chuckle. "So Ash has a girlfriend," she muttered to herself as she went to mingle with some of the other guests. "Who would have guessed?" She had intended for the statement to be out of earshot of Mia, but the former World Champion heard every word. "No," she answered quietly. "At least, not that I know of."

She soon looked out over the party and saw Ash talking with their mother and Professor Oak. All of his Pokémon were out of their Poké Balls and enjoying the party, as were her own. She also saw many of Ash's other Pokémon that had participated in many of the other battles that had led to his fateful battle against her. She quickly identified Ash's own Venusaur, his Glalie, a round Pokémon about the size of a human with black skin with ice covering most of its skin and two black conical horns on either side of its head; his own Garchomp, and his Sceptile. She remembered that Sceptile had been one of three Pokémon to have ever defeated Tobias's Darkrai, her own Tyranitar being another to have accomplished the feat. Sceptile had also demonstrated his worth in the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship. She also quickly spotted Ash's Infernape standing around several other Pokémon. Infernape was a powerful monkey-like Pokémon with brownish-red fur on his body with a section of white fur on his chest, head, and legs, along with gold swirl-like shoulder pads, kneepads, and wristbands, and a Krookodile, a bipedal almost maroon crocodile-like Pokémon native to the Unova region. She suspected that the sunglasses that the Pokémon wore were unique to this individual Pokémon. She also noticed her own Pokémon mingling with Ash's, getting to know them a little better, which warmed her heart. The only one missing from that scene was Tyranitar, who was still sulking in the corner.

Seeing Tyranitar looking at the party, glaring at anyone and everyone that crossed into his view and generally not having a good time, she pulled out her Pokédex and activated its translation software. She then went over to the large Rock/Dark-type Pokémon and said, "Okay Tyranitar, what's bothering you?" She had a feeling that she knew, but she wanted to hear his answer first.

He gave a series of grunts, which were quickly translated by the Pokédex and appeared as words on the screen. His response was, [Where do I begin? Oh yeah, first you throw your fight against your brother, and now you won't let me defend myself against a spoiled Contest brat! What's going on with you?]

Mia grimaced. "First of all, I _didn't_ throw the battle against Ash."

[Yes you did!] Tyranitar protested. [You only entered the battle once throughout the entire thing!]

"Yeah, to help you out of a jam against the yellow electric sewer rat of doom," Mia retorted with a harsh chuckle. That took Tyranitar aback and he looked away for a few seconds before glaring at her with barely controlled rage.

[So why didn't you do it for the others? Venusaur could have definitely used your help against Charizard.]

"There's a size difference between a mouse like Pikachu, who can ride on my brother's shoulder, and a dragon like Charizard, who would crush him if he landed on him," Mia answered. "Besides, weapons like guns aren't allowed in such battles, even non-lethal weapons like lightning guns set to stun, and Tasers."

[And your fight against Ash?]

"He's my brother, and I underestimated him once I was beating the tar out of him. Really. He's my brother." Tyranitar was skeptical, and Mia's insistence did nothing to dissuade him of the idea that she threw the fight. "Do you honestly think that I would actually try to injure him?" she asked. She let him ponder the question for a few seconds, knowing that there was more to what was bothering Tyranitar than he was letting on. Eventually she asked, "What's your real problem? I know it isn't the battle."

Tyranitar did not give an immediate answer. Instead, he looked over at Ash, who was sitting with Delia, Professor Oak, Pikachu, and Tracey. [He's not cut out for what you do,] Tyranitar eventually answered. [He's too soft. He wouldn't even fight you directly. You had to make two glaring, even intentional, mistakes for him to pull off the win.] He then focused his gaze on her. [He hasn't lived your life. He hasn't had the hardships you have. In addition, he makes stupid mistakes in the name of friendship with his Pokémon. He says that he is their friend, but also unwittingly puts them in danger and is the sole reason for his own downfall in too many of the leagues. He's too naïve; and that is something that his enemies, particularly Team Rocket, will take advantage of when he fights them.]

Mia could not argue against Tyranitar. She knew he was right. This would be a huge change for Ash, one that he might not be able to handle. Before facing him, she had studied him and all of his important battles from the various Pokémon Leagues. She noticed that regardless of who the opponent was, from the greenest of beginners, to the most experienced of Champions, almost all of his victories were close affairs with only one of his Pokémon remaining at the end of the match. While against opponents that were even with him in skill, that might not be unexpected, the troubling thing was that according to her research, almost _all_ of his battles had been like that. And there were a variety of reasons for that; almost none of them being that his strongest team at any given moment was even with his opponent's team in terms of strength and skill. Not only that, but in almost all of the leagues that he had participated in, this flaw in his battling style had eventually cost him his chance at winning said league. And, of course, there was the fact that he had gone from an experienced Trainer, to someone who acted like a newbie when he had gone to the Unova Region. Fortunately, he had returned to previous form when he went to Kalos. Eventually, she told Tyranitar, "You're right."

[Then why didn't you fight harder? You could have won that fight! You _should_ have won!]

"Maybe," she admitted. "But Ash _did_ also get some lucky breaks as well. As for why I don't feel too bad about Ash winning, well, he's my brother. More than that, though, is the fact that I think that he is finally learning and has gotten out of that newbie phase he enters whenever he tries something new. I also have some suspicions as to why he reset when he went to the Unova Region," she added under her breath, looking away from Tyranitar. She then focused back on him and continued, "Regardless of the past, I think that he has a bright future, and that his success will be necessary for human/Pokémon relations. He's a good Trainer, and also a good person."

[So are you,] Tyranitar responded.

"Thanks," Mia replied, smiling at Tyranitar. "Come on," she offered. "Come join the party. You may make some new friends. I think you'd get along very well with Charizard."

A smile soon crossed Tyranitar's face and he accepted Mia's offer, going over to join the party. Once he was mingling with the Pokémon of Ash and the other guests, Mia looked over at Ash and their mother. She took a deep breath and said under her breath, "I've put this off long enough." She then went over to Ash and Delia so she could introduce herself.

Meanwhile, back in Team Rocket Headquarters, more than one hundred Team Rocket grunts and elite agents assembled in an assembly area that was devoid of any furniture save for a single stage and podium which led to one of the exits. It had gray walls and if it had had a table it would have looked like an interrogation room. And if it had had a bunk along with the table, it would have resembled a large prison cell. The Rocket grunts all gazed at their surroundings and were murmuring to each other, speculating on why they had been gathered in such large numbers. With the exception of Science and R&D workers, almost all of the remaining Rockets that were still stationed at the base had been called to assemble. Two particular Rockets, Butch, a young adult male with green hair and brown eyes, and Cassidy, a young woman with gold hair worn in two long tails and purple eyes, both of whom wore the standard Team Rocket uniform of a black shirt and pants, stood among the crowd waiting for Giovanni to come and tell them why he had assembled practically every Rocket inside the base, save for Science Division.

Their questions would soon be answered as Giovanni came out from the door behind the podium and stood before them. Behind him were Domino and four elite grunts known as the Rocket Brothers, a family of four brothers who were among the strongest grunts in Team Rocket. Giovanni approached the podium and when he arrived, he stood there and motioned for everyone in the area to find a seat. It took only a few moments for the more than one hundred Rocket Grunts to find an empty seat, for the assembly area was able to hold many more.

Once they were seated, Giovanni addressed the group, saying, "Members of Team Rocket, you are undoubtedly asking yourselves why you have all been summoned here. I don't think I have to go over what has happened to this organization in the past three years. Many of you are veterans of Team Rocket from before our great falls and have stood by this organization even after it had disbanded twice before. Without you, Team Rocket would be finished. As such, you all must know that an opportunity has now presented itself. We have come into our possession a new Legendary Pokémon, but that is not the important part of the plan for now. Today, our goal is to cripple the Pokémon League and deal with the greatest threat to Team Rocket that we have ever faced. We know where several of the Elite Four members and even a couple Champions are and will destroy them. In addition, we are also preparing a concurrent assault on the Kanto Gym Leaders, since they are going to be the most likely source of resistance to us. Some may be willing to join us, though, and we will be taking that into account when dealing with them. For those that don't join, though, it will be to their sorrow.

"Last, but not least, I will need Rocket Grunts Zero-Zero-One through Zero-Thirty to remain behind as soon as the rest of you leave for your respective assignments. Butch and Cassidy are also to remain behind with Grunts Zero-Zero-One through Zero-Thirty. As for the rest of you, you will all be divided up into teams of ten and be sent out to rendezvous with other Team Rocket agents in all of the towns and cities that house Kanto Pokémon League Gyms deal with their Gym Leaders." It was then that one of the Grunts raised his hand. "Yes, what is it?"

"Sir, I was merely wondering why we are only going after the Kanto Gym Leaders and not the Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh Gym Leaders since they would also be a hindrance to our plans."

"A legitimate question," Giovanni responded thoughtfully. "The reason we aren't going after any of the other Japanese Regional Gym Leaders is because we simply don't have the necessary manpower to do so at the moment. Many Rockets were arrested after each time Team Rocket disbanded officially, with more deciding simply not to return once we re-formed. We are sending in overwhelming force to deal with the Elite Four, Champions, and the Kanto Gym Leaders so that we can score a quick decapitation strike now. Yes, there will be other Champions and Gym Leaders to pick up the pieces, but they should be in relative disarray after the Kanto Gym Leaders fall, especially the Johto Gym Leaders. This is but the first step on the road to our victory. But this step will be crucial. The Kanto Gym Leader threat must be neutralized, one way or the other. You have your assignments. The specifics will be given by your team commanders once you meet up with them at your various destinations. You should each be receiving your duty assignments on your datapads."

Each Rocket then got out his or her datapad and saw the orders flash up, as well as the identity of their team commanders. The Rockets studied their assignments and committed them to memory. Giovanni's voice then boomed, "Lastly, you each will receive a Pokémon that knows Teleport, so that you can get to your targets as quickly as possible. We already have forces on the ground in each of the Legendaries that we are targeting. There you will stay until you receive a Master Ball." The Rocket Brothers and Domino then gave each of the Rocket Grunts a Poké Ball with a Pokémon that knew Teleport, usually a Pokémon of the Abra line, but sometimes, a Natu or a Xatu, two Psychic/Flying type Pokémon that looked like birds with large green heads. Once the Rockets had received their Pokémon, Giovanni bellowed, "You have your orders, carry them out!"

"Yes sir," the Rocket Grunts all replied in unison. With that, the Rocket Grunts then broke off into their respective teams, filed out of the assembly area. Once they were outside of the base, they released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls and had them teleport them to their destinations.

Back inside the base, Giovanni looked out over the thirty Rocket Grunts that remained. "You all are probably wondering why you are still here," he told them. "The answer is because you all have been chosen for the most important part of this mission. Not too far away from here, on the Indigo Plateau, is a hotel where the new World Pokémon League Champion's birthday is being celebrated. As it turns out, I have received information that Leaf, the former Champion, and Pokémon Trainer that has been such a large thorn in our side and has been the reason we have been as greatly weakened as we are, is also with him, as are the Johto League Champion Lance, and the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia. You all are going to be serving under Domino, with Butch and Cassidy serving as her lieutenants. You are take out Lance, Cynthia, this new Champion, Ash, as well as any other Trainers you come across if you can, but your primary objective is to eliminate Leaf's threat, permanently."

"Ash?" Cassidy blurted, recognizing the name from several encounters that she had with him from before. "Do you mean Ash Ketchum?"

"I didn't catch his last name, but he had black hair and hazel eyes. He's participated in numerous leagues, as well," Giovanni answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because we've encountered him before," Butch answered. "He's a skilled Trainer, but nowhere close to Leaf's level. At least he wasn't the last time we fought him," he added.

"Will facing him be a problem for you?" Giovanni asked in a tone that seemed to not know whether to be mocking or serious.

Both Rockets grinned. "Not at all," they both responded in unison.

Another Rocket then raised his hand. "By eliminate, do you mean kill?" he asked.

Giovanni gave a sinister grin. "Yes," he answered coldly. "As I said before, eliminate them, especially Leaf! Kill her! Anyone else you encounter is up to your own discretion."

The Rockets grinned as they received their orders. Domino then went down to the rest of the Rockets and relayed the information about where the Champions and Leaf were. As she was going over the specifics and the strategy, he muttered coldly, "Don't disappoint me. I've been waiting a long time to get revenge on her for my three defeats." With that, he withdrew from the assembly area and returned to his office. He had to make sure that even if things went wrong, that he would still have the possibility of accomplishing his objectives, for even with Leaf gone, he knew that there may still be other enemies that he would have to deal with before the end.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Inside the Pewter City Gym, Brock the oldest of nine siblings was tending to his Pokémon as they finished a training regimen. This was the first day he had come home to visit his family and tend to the gym since he had become a Pokémon Doctor. He was about eighteen years old and had tanned skin, spiky brown hair and black eyes that were almost always squinting. He wore a green short-sleeved shirt under an orange vest with some gray, and khaki pants. His family was away for the time being and was not scheduled to return for a few more hours. This would give him a good chance to look at each and every one of his Pokémon, as well as examine the gym to see how his family was doing with it.

The Pokémon that were out and about the gym consisted of a Golem, a boulder-like Pokémon whose head protruded from the center of the rocky shell, that also had two arms with three claws on each hand, and two legs; Steelix, a large and long segmented silvery snake-like Pokémon; Crobat, a purple bat-like Pokémon with four wings; Forretress, a round cocoon-like Pokémon with pinkish plates situated on the top and bottom of its red body. The main body also had several protrusions that looked like cannons, almost as if the Pokémon, itself, was a miniature fortress. His other Pokémon included a Ludicolo, a Pokémon that looked like a mixture between a platypus and a pineapple with a green head, as well as arms and legs, and a yellow body, with a sombrero-like covering on its head; a Swampert, a blue quadruped Pokémon with three-fingered open palms, a wide mouth, orange gills protruding from its cheeks, and a large black tail fin; Sudowoodo, a log-shaped Pokémon with two short legs and two thin arms with green hands shaped like the suite of cards clubs; Toxicroak, a humanoid Pokémon that resembled a blue poison dart frog with a bulbous red vocal sack; and finally, a Chansey.

The Pokémon had been training in the gym while Brock had been watching Ash's battle with Mia on the television and had been rooting for Ash during the entire battle. He had been concerned for Ash's chances at various times and had been legitimately surprised when Ash had managed to eek out a tie with Leaf if the Pokémon Battle, forcing a physical fight. He had grown even more concerned as Leaf had been pummeling him for most of the fight and had been relieved when Ash had finally managed to pin her. He was relieved when Ash finally won the battle. Once he was finished watching the battle, he went out to check on the Pokémon, unaware of the threat that was gathering outside of the gym.

Outside the gym, a Team Rocket force had assembled to find Brock and either convince him to join Team Rocket or kill him should he refuse. The force consisted of four Rocket Grunts led by one Rocket Agent. The Agent was practically indistinguishable from the other Rockets at first glance, though, and it was better that way for all involved, for they did not want to be identified by law enforcement. Despite the fact that it was midday and there were bystanders pretty close to gym, no one seemed all that concerned about seeing an assault force consisting of members of a criminal organization about to raid one of the Kanto Pokémon League gyms. The Rocket Agent quickly pulled out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, who then turned to its Trainer and awaited his command. "Kadabra, scan the interior of the base and see if Brock is here."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon replied, nodding. Its eyes glowed a soft blue as it swept its gaze throughout the gym. After a few seconds, the glow died and the Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes returned to normal. It nodded, confirming that Brock was at the gym.

"How many Trainers are with him? Does he have any Pokémon besides his Golem and Steelix?"

Kadabra shook its head once, indicating that there were no other Trainers present, and then nodded, indicating that he had more Pokémon than initial intelligence reports had indicated. "So, how do you wanna do this?" one of the Grunts asked.

"Stay here," the Agent directed. "I'll go in and try to convince him to join up voluntarily. If he does, I'll give the all clear. If he doesn't, I'll give code phrase 'how unfortunate' to tell you guys to come in, ready for battle."

Before the Rocket Agent entered the gym, the Grunts released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls. Most of the Pokémon were Zubats and Golbats, bat-like Pokémon, with Zubat having no eyes and being small, while Golbat had a large head and mouth, which consisted of most of its body. A few had a round, Koffings with one having a Weezing. The agent was not all that thrilled about the group of Pokémon his forces had, for he knew firsthand that Poison-type Pokémon were quite vulnerable to Ground-type Pokémon. To make matters worse, Brock had a Steelix at the gym, which was immune to Poison-type attacks. And Pewter City Gym was primarily a Rock and Ground-type gym. Once the Rockets had let out their Pokémon, the Agent headed inside.

Inside the gym, the Agent saw Brock and his assortment of Pokémon spread throughout the floor. The Agent quickly gazed around the gym, mentally noting the number of Pokémon, along with the type that was present. The presence of Forretress caught him off guard and was growing more and more concerned that this attack, should Brock refuse to join Team Rocket, which the agent believed would be the case, considering his previous enmity with the organization, was doomed to end in failure. Still, he had to put on a good show, and to that end, he gave a slight chuckle. The soft chuckle, though, was enough to alert Brock and his Pokémon to the fact that someone had come into the gym. They immediately stopped and looked towards the entrance, seeing the Rocket Agent standing in the shadow of the door. He saw the Rocket uniform worn by the Agent and scowled. "The gym is not open for battles right now so I'm not able to take any challenges right now," Brock informed him courteously. He then focused on the Rocket and his expression darkened. "But by your uniform, I take it that you aren't here for a gym battle."

"Not if I can help it," the Rocket Agent replied casually. The Agent then took a few steps forward, holding up his hands to show Brock that he was not armed and that he was not holding any Poké Balls. "I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" Brock asked skeptically, his previous encounters with Team Rocket coming to the forefront of his memory.

"Join Team Rocket. With your power, both yours and your Pokémon's, Team Rocket would become even stronger. Not only that, but you're a Gym Leader and we have need of people like you in our organization."

"You mean you'd finally have some power back and a voice in the Pokémon League," Brock retorted. "I know that you're on your last legs. Leaf did a number on you. Ethan did, too. And you didn't do much better against Ash and his friends, with whom I traveled for a couple of years."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," the Agent countered with a dark smile. "We still have some bite left." He gave a pause so Brock could think over the proposition. After a few seconds, the agent said, "The offer's only good for a limited time, though. What's your answer? Will you join us?"

"I'll never join Team Rocket!" Brock declared.

The Rocket Agent shrugged. "How unfortunate," he sighed, giving the signal for the rest of the Rockets to attack. They came charging through the door, their Pokémon already deployed and their guns drawn. Their Pokémon were soon to follow. "You'll join us or die!"

Brock was surprised to see that Team Rocket had gotten smart and started to use guns as well as Pokémon. During his travels, he had noted that most villainous teams that utilized Pokémon never used more conventional weapons, always relying on Pokémon instead. Still, this new development did not disturb him. They drastically underestimated him and his Pokémon. Before they could fire a single shot, Golem stomped the ground and unleashed a massive Earthquake upon the grunts. The Grunts and Agent struggled to maintain their footing and fell to the floor, almost reflexively firing their guns as they fell. The shots went wide of Brock and Golem, with the rear grunts hitting the two forward Grunts, and causing the Agent to dive behind the stunned grunts in front for cover.

Brock then called out to Swampert, "Swampert, you get in front and use Surf!"

Swampert obeyed and stepped out in front of Brock's Pokémon. The Pokémon then unleashed a torrent of water that crashed down upon the Rockets and their Pokémon, forcing them back towards the gym's exit. Their Pokémon were not very strong and took a great deal of damage from the attack. Brock wanted to make sure that they were beaten, though, so he told Steelix and Golem, "Steelix, Golem, use Stone Edge to finish off the Rockets and their Pokémon!"

The two Pokémon complied and rings of stones surrounded the two Pokémon. After a second, they fired the stones at the waterlogged Rocket Pokémon, Grunts, and Agent. The stones scored direct hits on the Pokémon, taking them out of the fight. Some even scored hits on the Rocket Grunts and the Agent, knocking them unconscious at the very least. Police sirens could be heard off in the distance but by the time the police had arrived to investigate, the battle was already over. Brock and his Pokémon stood overlooking the fallen Rockets and their Pokémon. The police then took down Brock's report and took the Rockets, those that were still alive, and their Pokémon into custody.

Over in Cerulean City, Misty stood inside the Cerulean City Gym not too far away from the pool. The gym was basically a large aquarium with a large pool situated in the center. The aquarium had a several Pokémon swimming around in it, but the Gym Trainers and Gym Leaders would also swim in the pool when they were present in the gym. As it was, though, Misty was the only one attending to the gym today. She was Ash's age and had orange hair that did not quite reach down to her shoulders. Today was a rare day when she wore it down rather than have it in a side ponytail. She wore a yellow sleeveless shirt over a red sleeveless undershirt with short yellow shorts. Her sisters were away and had taken some of the gym's Pokémon with them, leaving only Misty's own Pokémon to safeguard the gym and accept any challengers. They consisted of Goldeen a fantail-like Pokémon, Staryu, a brown star-shaped Pokémon; Starmie, Kingdra, a blue seahorse-like Pokémon with tan belly scales; Psyduck, a rotund yellow bipedal duck-like Pokémon; Politoed, a green frog-like Pokémon with yellow hands, toes, throat, and belly; Corsola, a small round pink Pokémon with a white underbelly with four stubby legs, pink stubby arms, and several branch-like growths extending from its back; Gyarados, a blue and white serpentine Pokémon that resembled a large sea serpent; a Luvdisc named Caserin, which was a small pink heart shaped Pokémon; Azurill, a small, blue, rotund mouse-like Pokémon with a floatation ball for a tail; and Dewgong, a white seal-like Pokémon with a single small horn on its head. All of the Pokémon were swimming about the pool as Misty looked on, preparing to change so she could join them in the pool. Her plans, though, were cut short as she heard an explosion from outside as the door to the gym was blown open, shrapnel flying from the entrance.

Jumping up at the sound, she turned to face the entrance to the gym and saw no less than six Team Rocket Grunts, along with a Team Rocket Agent, standing in the doorway. The agent stepped forward and proclaimed, "Misty Waterflower, Gym Leader of Cerulean City Gym, you've got a choice. You can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." Looking at the Rocket Grunts, he nodded, motioning for them to draw their Poké Balls. The Poké Balls opened and out came a group of Koffings and a Weezing. The Rockets also drew several futuristic looking guns from their holsters, something that surprised Misty since she had never seen them use guns of any kind before, especially energy weapons.

Misty glanced down to her Pokémon and then back at the Rockets and demanded, "What do you want?"

"For you to surrender yourself and your Pokémon to Team Rocket. Join us," the Agent offered. "If you do so, you'll become rich beyond your wildest dreams of avarice."

"No," the Cerulean City Gym Leader retorted curtly.

"Your loss," the Rocket shrugged, raising his hands. Turning to the Rockets and their Pokémon, he cried, "Let her have it!"

Misty had other ideas as she called to her Pokémon, "Everyone, use Surf on Team Rocket and send them out of the gym!"

The Pokémon obeyed and a large number of waves were formed by each of the Water-type Pokémon. The waves of water condensed into a single massive tidal wave that was launched at the Rockets. The Rockets' eyes went wide with shock as they saw the torrent of water headed straight for them. They turned to flee the oncoming tidal wave, but were too slow and the wave crashed down on the Rockets and their Pokémon. The flood quickly carried the Rockets out of the gym and deposited them in the streets once the water eventually dispersed enough so that the Rockets were no longer dragged along the current. That did two Rockets little good as they were deposited into the middle of the road, and into the path of a truck, which was unable to swerve out of the way and avoid hitting them. The rest of the waterlogged Rockets and their Pokémon were deposited along the street and the sidewalk around the gym, left to fend for themselves as a series of sirens came, a clear sign that the police were coming. The Rockets that had not met an unfortunate end facing down a truck, or had been crushed in initial crash of the tidal wave, were apprehended by police along with their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, over in Saffron City, the largest city in the Kanto Region, Sabrina stood inside the Saffron City Gym with her Alakazam. She was about twenty-four years old, had black hair that went down to slightly below her shoulders, and red eyes. Unlike her usual attire, today she was dressed in a pink sleeveless shirt and white pants. Standing next to her and Alakazam were an Abra, a Pokémon that loosely resembled a bipedal fox with brown leather-like armor, and a Kadabra, which was Abra's second stage evolution. All four were preparing for battle, for they all had experienced a dream the night before of an attack on the gym, and they also sensed the malevolent intent of the Team Rocket force that was assembling outside of the gym.

Sure enough, outside the gym, a force of a dozen Rocket Grunts, and a Rocket Agent, had assembled. Assisted by a Kadabra, the Rocket Grunts and Agent knew that the usual Poison and Fighting-type Pokémon that they often used would be slaughtered by Sabrina, so they decided to take along some Cubones, small dark orange to almost brown bipedal Pokémon with tan underbellies that wear skulls over their heads and carry bones in their hands; Marowaks, evolutions of Cubones that generally look like a larger Cubone, only with a scaled underbelly and a spike on its tail; a few Drowzees, bipedal tapir-like Pokémon with a trunks above their mouth, yellow upper halves and brown lower halves; and a couple of Hypnos, evolutions of Drowzee that looked more human-like than their first stage evolutions, had a white collar, feline-like ears, and a pendulum in their hands. They knew that mind-controlling Sabrina would be more difficult than any of the other Gym Leaders and were very willing to use deadly force against her if she could not be controlled or convinced to join Team Rocket voluntarily. The Pokémon scanned the interior of the gym and found that only Sabrina and her three Psychic Pokémon were in the gym. They telepathically relayed the information to their Trainer, the Rocket Agent, who gave a curt nod to them in return.

"Okay guys," he began, "it looks like there's only Sabrina and a few Psychic-type Pokémon inside the gym with her. Here's the plan should she not join us: the Drowzees and Hypnos are going to telepathically assault her, to keep her from fighting and hopefully take full control of her mind, while the rest of you send your Cubones and Marowaks to deal with her Pokémon. While they're fighting and Sabrina's distracted, you take care of her."

"Got it," the Rocket Grunts replied. The Rockets then followed their leader into the gym as the assault on the Saffron Gym began. Little did they know, though, that Sabrina had already sensed their arrival, and was well aware of their plan.

The Saffron City Gym Leader soon stood and waited patiently for the arrival of the Team Rocket force. For a split second, she felt that something else was happening with the other Gym Leaders but she quickly put the thought out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on what was happening right here and now. Otherwise, Team Rocket might actually succeed in controlling or killing her.

Sure enough, the Team Rocket force appeared directly in front of her on the warp tile that was situated at the end of her room. Sabrina's Kadabra and Alakazam prepared to launch an attack, but Sabrina telepathically told them to stop and let the Rockets speak. She knew that the Drowzees and Hypnos that had appeared were already trying to assault her mind. They were failing miserably, but the psychic woman's expression did not change at all. The Team Rocket Agent gave a chuckle as he saw the young woman standing before him. "Looks like you're a little lax with security," he noted flatly.

"I know why you're here, and the answer is no," she told him, not letting him know that she knew his exact plan of attack. "You should leave. Now."

"But you haven't heard my offer," the Rocket Agent countered.

"I don't have to," came Sabrina's response. "You want me to join Team Rocket and assist you in your plan to take over the world. If I refuse, you're going to try to kill me."

"That about covers it, yep," the Agent said nonchalantly. "The only modification I'd make is about that 'try' part when it comes to killing you. Still, before we go all kill crazy on each other, you should know that Rocket agents are very well paid and receive good benefits, too. You'd make far more as a Rocket than as a mid-tier Gym Leader, especially given your true power and skill. Not only that, but you'd also gain more political power as well. You'd be a part of the force that would rule the world."

"Not interested," she replied flatly. "Leave," she commanded harshly, glaring at him.

"Not an option," the Rocket Agent retorted. "This is your last chance, babe. The offer's good for ten seconds only. Join us and be a part of the new rulers of the world, or die. If you join, you'd be a high-ranking member since you're already a powerful Gym Leader," he offered, trying to make the position sound as enticing as possible.

"Maybe in another time, another place, another life, I would either have accepted your offer or have already been a part of Team Rocket," Sabrina began. "However, in this time, this place, this life, I am not a monster, not anymore. I refuse."

"A pity," the Rocket Agent almost lamented. "Oh well." He then pointed at Sabrina and snapped his fingers. The Rockets and Pokémon knew that that was the signal to attack.

The Cubones and Marowaks immediately went to throw their bone clubs at Sabrina, but they found themselves frozen in place, as did the Rockets. "Now I have an offer for you," Sabrina told the Rockets in a calm, cold voice. "Leave, and you won't be reduced to my playthings. If you remain and continue this attack, I'll have some new action figures and dolls to add to my collection. The only difference is that I'll use you for things like target practice." She gave a cold smile after uttering that last warning.

Team Rocket did not listen, though, and they attempted to pull their guns on her and yelled to their Pokémon, "Attack!" Sabrina gave a sigh and her eyes began to glow a deep red. A red aura surrounded the Rockets and they were lifted into the air. The Rockets' Pokémon that were foolish enough to attack were quickly shoved into the wall by the psychic abilities of Sabrina's Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam. They collided with the wall, cracking it, and slid to the floor, unconscious. Without a word, she focused on the Rockets and they began to shrink in size until they were no larger than action figures. Their skin and clothing then transformed into plastic and the field of energy that surrounded them disappeared. The new Rocket action figures then fell to the floor. Sabrina's Pokémon then let loose with a series of Shadow Balls into the Rocket action figures, annihilating them.

Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Sabrina focused on their Pokémon, those of which had been shoved into the wall, were beginning to regain consciousness. "I'm giving the rest of you a choice," she told them. "Your Trainers used you for evil purposes; which is why you are getting this choice, rather than being turned into dolls or other items and put in the fireplace. You can abandon Team Rocket and live on in the wild, making a good life for yourselves; or you could try to complete the mission your Trainers gave you and attack us. Be warned, though, that we will defend ourselves with deadly force."

Two Cubones, a Marowak, and a Drowzee quickly decided that they would complete the mission given to them by Team Rocket, despite Sabrina's warning, and charged towards her. Before they could begin their attack, though, Sabrina read their minds and found that they were loyal to Team Rocket, despite the fact that they knew of the evil that their Trainers perpetrated. Again, a red aura surrounded them and they were quickly transformed into dolls. Sabrina wasted no time playing with them, though, and they promptly burst into flames. "That's the price for evil," she said coldly to the others. "But my offer is still on the table for the rest of you. Reject the evil of Team Rocket and live peaceful lives, or die. Choose."

As if there was any choice, the rest of the Pokémon chose to live. Scanning their minds, she could tell that most of them were never really loyal to Team Rocket to begin with and were merely scared of what their Trainers and their loyal Pokémon would do if they disobeyed. Some, however, were being controlled by an outside force. However, a couple had initially been loyal to Team Rocket, renouncing their mission only when she dealt with the others and she warned them, "To those who chose to live out of fear, know that if you try anything, many others in the world will deal with you. And you won't get any second chances from them."

All of the Pokémon nodded and her eyes glowed once more as she teleported the various Pokémon into nearby forests and caves so that they could begin their new lives. Once the one-sided "battle" was over, she told her Pokémon, "We have to alert the others. Something big is happening and we have to warn the other Gym Leaders that Team Rocket may be after them too."

Her Pokémon nodded and stood guard over the gym as Sabrina went to a phone to contact the other Gym Leaders as to the attack on her gym by Team Rocket.

All around the Kanto Region of Japan, Team Rocket was making their move to attack the various gyms under the control of the Pokémon League. So far, the attacks on Celadon Gym, Fuchsia Gym, Cinnabar Gym, and Vermillion Gym, had gone off as planned, albeit with noticeable, but still acceptable, losses, as of yet. Still, none of the Gym Leaders had been killed or had even lost a Pokémon yet, but there was still a lot of fighting to be done and the battles in the Celadon Gym and in the Fuchsia Gym were still relatively even. The one gym that was doing the best in holding out against the Team Rocket was the Viridian City Gym, under the command of Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson and a former Kanto League Champion, though he had been Champion for less than a day before Mia had challenged and defeated him without losing any Pokémon. Gary was Ash's age with brown hair and green eyes. He wore a black short-sleeved shirt and khaki pants. Sabrina had managed to make contact with him and warn him of a potential attack when over a dozen Rocket Grunts and a Rocket Agent had blown the door to the gym wide open with a single punch from a Machamp, a bluish-gray skinned four-armed muscle-bound Pokémon that wore a black legless girdle along with a belt. That Machamp was also the first casualty of the fight as Gary's Blastoise counterattacked, scoring a direct hit with a Hydro Cannon blast, the two streams of water colliding with the muscled Pokémon, sending him flying through the door.

Team Rocket would not be stopped, though, and the Grunts, Agent, and all of their Pokémon came surging through the door. Pokémon of all sorts from Marowaks to Alakazams to Gengars, bipedal dark purple furred Pokémon with round bodies surged through. The two Gengars that were entering the battle, though, were not fighting all that hard, and once Gary had released the rest of his Pokémon that he had on hand: Electivire, a humanoid Electric-type Pokémon that had yellow fur with black stripes, and two black tails with a red tip on each; Golem, a round rock-like Ground-type Pokémon with a small head, compared to the body, short arms and legs; Umbreon, a Dark-type Pokémon with a sleek body that has yellow rings on its forehead and legs, pointed ears, and red cat-like eyes; Alakazam, and a Rhyperior, a bipedal Rhinoceros-like Pokémon with a round brownish-gray body that had rock plates covering portions of its hide as well as a drill-like horn jutting from its nose and a club-like tail, the two Gengars retreated from the fight without any further incident.

Despite having only six Pokémon to counter the small army that Team Rocket was sending against him, he had felt as if he would still be able to hold his own against any attack. However, that supposition was being challenged, now that Alakazam and Golem had been knocked unconscious, and Umbreon was having difficult against a couple of Fearows, Flying-type Pokémon that had long beaks and necks. Gary's other Pokémon were holding their own as well, with almost half of the Team Rocket Pokémon having either been knocked unconscious, along with three Rocket Grunts, with one of them suffering fatal injuries, or worse.

The Rocket Grunts and Agent, however, were not giving up. After a volley of ranged attacks from Gary's Pokémon, the Rockets ordered their forces and Pokémon to regroup and find cover. They knew that despite the fact that half of their Pokémon were down, they still held the advantage over Gary, whose Pokémon were beginning to tire. However, Gary and his Pokémon were not going down without a fight. A Hydro Pump from his Blastoise managed to fell a Magmar, a humanoid Fire-type Pokémon that had a yellow and red flaming body. The Pokémon collided with its Trainer, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Gary grinned at the sight as he activated the alarm to the Gym.

Klaxons and sirens began to sound and the Team Rocket soldiers knew that they had a limited time to accomplish the operation before the police arrived. Upon hearing the klaxons, one of the Rocket Grunts went up to the Agent and cried, "Sir, the authorities have been alerted to the attack. The police will be here at any moment. We must retreat!"

"No!" the Agent roared. "This mission is too important! We have to take him out, even if it costs us everything!"

"We're no good to the boss dead or captured," another Grunt countered. "We've managed to take down a couple of his Pokémon and put a third on the brink, but they're not dead, and we aren't makin' much headway against him, especially with those Gengars not fighting at full power."

"We can't abandon the mission!" the Agent contested. "We were given a mission by the boss, and by my salary, I'm gonna accomplish it out no matter what!"

The other Rocket wanted to disagree, but a bolt of lightning from Gary's Electivire ended the conversation prematurely as the Rocket Grunt gave a short cry before falling to the ground, his body convulsing and electricity arcing across his form. After a few moments, the Rocket lay still, either unconscious or dead. The fact that his chest was not rising and falling, and his eyes were still open, indicated that the latter was more likely. Two more Rocket Pokémon, a Fearow and a Murkrow, a small bird, relatively speaking, with black feathers, fell amid the battle. It was not long before the Rockets started to hear sirens off in the distance. "Sir, we must retreat!" another Rocket Grunt called to the Agent. "The police are almost here."

"Never!" the Agent cried. "We're gonna… arrrgh!" he cried as he never got to finish his statement, for a blast of Thunder fried him, electricity arcing across his writhing body before the attack reduced him to dust.

That was the cue for the other Rockets to cut their losses and leave. The surviving Grunts quickly fled the gym as the police sirens got louder. When the police entered, Gary told them everything that happened. He soon learned that he and Sabrina had not been the only ones attacked, that all of the Kanto Gym Leaders had suffered attacks from Team Rocket. Still, despite the gyms being able to repulse the attacks, he and the other Leaders remained at their gyms just in case Team Rocket returned with greater numbers.

Meanwhile, in the situation room inside the Rocket base, Giovanni, his secretary, a young woman named Matori, with dark purple hair that did not quite fall to his shoulders, red eyes, and wearing eye glasses and a uniform that was similar to Giovanni's but with more purple, and the four remaining Team Rocket Executives, watched the assault on the Kanto Gym Leaders unfold. The group stared at a large screen on the wall across from the long table where Giovanni and the others were sitting, his secretary standing behind him. The screen was split into eight smaller screens, one for each team that was attacking the Kanto gyms. Giovanni scowled as the operation got underway, with his forces suffering severe losses, with little to no progress being shown. The screens for the Pewter, Cerulean, and Saffron Gyms were already blank, the entire strike forces having been wiped out or captured very quickly. The strike forces that had attacked the Fuchsia City and Cinnabar Island gyms were also whittled down to only a few personnel and Pokémon, who were barely holding out against the Gym Leaders. Fortunately, they still had their teleporters alive and conscious so they could fall back.

The voices of various Team Rocket members echoed throughout the room as they received live reports and updates from the various team leaders and directed the assaulting forces. Giovanni did not give a scowl, though. He had not expected to be able to take down all of the Gym Leaders, but he had hoped to be able to take down at least some of them. Still, the purpose of the attacks was being fulfilled. With the reports of the attacks on the gyms spreading, the Pokémon League would send official Trainers and other security forces to reinforce the gyms, allowing him to focus on his true objectives. The screen of another Team Rocket force, this one consisting of a few Grunts and a Scientist, flashed on where the now blank screen of the attack on Saffron Gym had once been. There were four Kadabras on the screen. Their eyes flashed a deep blue once and quickly returned to normal. That was the signal. Giovanni then told the Rockets, "Go!"

"Roger that," the Rocket Scientist and the Grunts replied. Giovanni and the others then sat back in their seats and awaited news on the outcome of the real mission.

Over in Saffron City, just outside of the Silph Corporation Building, the three Team Rocket Grunts and Rocket Scientist stood. The four Kadabras stood watch outside of the building, using their psychic abilities to shield themselves and the Rockets from detection by bystanders, Sabrina, and the employees of Silph Corporation. The Kadabras were second stage evolutions of the Abra line, the third being Alakazam. They had a human-like body structure that had a fox-like face with two large ears and tail. The body was gold in color, along with a long golden mustache, but was also partially covered in brown, seemingly leather armor, and one spoon. The Rockets knew that they would not be able to avoid detection indefinitely, but if they could shield themselves for a few minutes, then they would be able to accomplish their objectives and escape without being detected. And if all went well, Silph Corporation would not know that it had been robbed until it was too late.

The Rocket Scientist soon received the "go" order from Giovanni and upon receiving it, he told the others, "Alright everyone, the signal's been given. We've got only a few minutes. Let's go!"

"Right," the Rockets replied.

Turning to the Kadabras, the Scientist told them, "Stay here and continue to shield our presence from our enemies. Once we get what we're looking for and leave, you evacuate as well."

"Kadabra," the Kadabras replied.

The Rocket Scientist then took out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, who gave a cry upon being released, and upon touching the ground, turned to face its Trainer. "Take us in," the Rocket ordered.

The Kadabra nodded and the group immediately disappeared from the streets of Saffron City.

The Rockets appeared inside the Silph Corporation Building and they immediately looked around to get their bearings. They first looked up and saw a number of security cameras. Turning to Kadabra, the Rocket Scientist instructed, "Kadabra, disable the security cameras and make sure that they play on an endless loop until we leave."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon replied, nodding affirmatively. Its eyes then glowed and a field of energy surrounded the cameras. The illusion was put in place. The Rockets could now move around the floor without being detected. They could now focus on their mission. Looking at the map that they had downloaded to their datapads, they began to search for the quickest route to the safe that contained the contents that they were searching for. They followed their maps and went down the corridor. The Scientist went ahead of the Grunts in order to make sure that there were no security personnel for the others to worry about. So far, he had found none. "Coast is clear guys. Let's go. Those Kadabras will only be able to shield us for a few more minutes, so we've gotta hurry."

"Right," the Rockets confirmed as they followed the Scientist down the hall. They passed several doors on each side of the corridor as they searched for the vault where the greatest secrets and inventions of the Silph Corporation were stored. They found several terminals on the wall that seemed to lead to areas that contained sensitive data or valuables, but the map that had been downloaded to their pads indicated that the doors led to nowhere in particular. The Kadabra that was with the Scientist also indicated that there was nothing of value behind those doors. As such, the Rockets left them alone and continued their search for the vault.

It did not take them long to reach a large vault that had a lock that looked like the steering wheel of a boat. There was also an electronic keypad on the door as well as a palm print scanner. Next to the vault was a small safe in the wall that had what looked to be a retinal scanner. The Rocket Grunts, believing that the larger vault was the vault that they were looking for, went to try to open it. "No," the Scientist bellowed. "That's not the real vault."

"Whadaya mean?" one of the Grunts asked, confused. "Look at it!"

"I am," the Scientist answered. "It's too obvious." He then directed their attention towards the smaller safe next to the large vault. "While I don't doubt that there are a great deal of valuables inside the large vault, what we're looking for isn't going to be there. It'll be in a less conspicuous storage safe. Look at the small safe next to the vault."

The Rockets did so but they found nothing unusual about it. "Note the retinal scanner that's not present on the larger vault."

The Rockets looked at the scanner, something that they had noticed on their way to the vault, and asked, "So?"

"So, why put a retinal scanner on a small safe, and not on the larger vault? What's so important that they would put one of the most useful and hardest to breach without being detected security systems on a small safe that could only hold a small fraction that the larger vault could hold? What are they hiding in there?"

The Grunts had not thought about it like that, but what the Scientist said did make sense. "So what do we do?" one of the Grunts asked. "None of us are Silph Co. employees. And even if we were, I doubt that anyone except an executive would be allowed in that safe. And if we try to crack through, we'll be discovered and our plans will be exposed."

"This," the Rocket Scientist answered. He pulled out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air, crying, "Come on out Ditto!"

The Poké Ball opened and out came a blue blob of energy. Once the blob landed on the floor, it congealed and transformed into a light purple to almost pink putty-like blob that seemed like it almost had arms. Taking out a picture of the President of Silph Corporation, the Scientist told Ditto, "Ditto, transform into this man now."

"Ditto," came the high-pitched reply from the Pokémon. Ditto shimmered and then began to change its shape. It grew in size and girth until it resembled a human. Soon, the final features came into being and standing before the Rockets was an exact copy of the President of Silph Corporation.

"Ditto, look into the scanner on the wall next to the large vault," the Scientist commanded.

Ditto complied and went over to the smaller safe on the wall. Quickly finding the retinal scanner, the facsimile of the President of Silph Corporation peered into he scanner. A beam of light struck its eyes and a small chime was heard. A click then sounded, indicating that the safe was now unlocked. "Wow, it worked," one of the Grunts murmured, almost in disbelief.

The Scientist went over to the safe and pulled the door open. "Get the bag," he told the Grunts. A Grunt then brought up a medium-sized storage bag. The Grunts peered into the safe, but all they found was a series of boxes.

"What's inside those boxes?" one of the Grunts asked.

"You'll find out once we get back to base," the Scientist answered. "Just make sure to get all of the boxes in the bag. We'll need all of the contents that we can get."

"Right," the Grunt replied, nodding.

The Grunts then took out all of the boxes and placed them inside the bag. The Scientist then took out a series of boxes from another bag and placed them inside the safe. He wanted to make sure that this deception would not be revealed for a long time, if ever. The last thing they needed was for Silph to realize that it had been robbed. Seeing that the Rockets' boxes were all placed inside the safe, he closed the door to the safe and it immediately locked. Turning to Ditto, who was still in the form of the President of Silph Corporation, he pulled out his Poké Ball and said, "Ditto, return."

A red beam of energy emerged from the ball and struck the false President of Silph. It turned into a blob of red energy and was then drawn back into the Poké Ball. He then clipped his Poké Ball back to his waist. Turning to Kadabra, he told the psychic Pokémon, "Job's done Kadabra. Take us home."

Kadabra nodded and its eyes flashed as the Team Rocket thieves vanished from the floor leaving no trace of their presence behind. After they had disappeared, the Kadabras surrounding the building also vanished, their mission accomplished.

Back inside Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni gave a dark smile. The first of his primary objectives had been accomplished. The Rocket Scientist reappeared in the situation room and walked up to him, saying, "Mission accomplished, Giovanni, sir." He then opened the bag and pulled out the six boxes that he had stolen from Silph Corporation, setting them down on the table. Giovanni went over to the boxes and immediately opened them. Each box contained six purple and white Poké Balls that had an M on them. Giovanni grinned at the sight of the Master Balls. "Thirty-six Master Balls, sir," the Rocket commented, almost as if he were gloating. "That's all of the Master Balls that were stored in the vault. No wonder they had it locked up so tight."

"Phase One is almost complete," Giovanni stated in a satisfied tone. "It's time to begin Phase Two. You may go."

The Rocket Scientist bowed and departed. Turning to one of the Rocket computer technicians, Giovanni commanded, "Tell the capture teams that they are a go."

"Yes, sir," the Rocket replied as the images on the screen disappeared as the Rocket teams were retreating from their attacks on the Kanto League Gyms, only to be replaced by the screens showing various teams of Rocket Grunts and Agents searching for various Legendary Pokémon. Giovanni could only grin. The time was at hand. Soon, all his previous failures would be nothing more than distant memories: lessons to take to heart so that he would not make the same mistakes again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Near the Power Plant located on Route Ten south of the Rock Tunnel in Kanto, three Rocket Grunts stood close to the building, waiting. Lush tall grass surrounded the building that hid a large number of Pokémon. Had they wished, they could have found a treasure trove of wild Pokémon hiding in the grass. However, they were not interested in mere wild Pokémon. Their only interest was in Zapdos, a large yellow feathered Electric/Flying-type Pokémon and one of the three Legendary Birds. A fourth Rocket Grunt quickly appeared next to the others holding a Poké Ball with a purple top and an M on it, signifying that it was a Master Ball. Next to the grunt was an Abra.

"Has the boss given the word?" one of the Grunts asked the new arrival.

The newly arrived Grunt nodded. "It's a go," he confirmed. "Matori told us that Giovanni's given us the go, as indicated by the Master Ball I'm holding. We need to hurry, though. The attack on the Kanto Gyms has ended in failure with us taking heavy losses in the process."

"Right," the Rockets replied in unison as they waited for the arrival of Zapdos.

After a few minutes of waiting, the Rockets heard a loud cry in the sky. Looking up, they saw the large form of Zapdos as it circled above the quartet. The Rockets gave satisfied smiles as the Legendary Bird appeared. They quickly deployed their Pokémon, a quartet of Koffings, floating purple heads with faces and a skull and crossbones symbol on front, and ordered, "Koffing, go up there and get Zapdos's attention!"

The Koffings complied with the order and floated up to Zapdos, firing a barrage of Sludge Bombs its way. Zapdos ascended as the balls of sludge approached and the balls sailed underneath the bird. Zapdos retaliated with a blast of Discharge. A series of lightning bolts erupted from Zapdos's feathers and lashed out at the four Koffings. Each bolt struck the Koffings and electricity arced across their bodies. The Koffings were taken down with a single hit and the floated back to the ground, unconscious. Fortunately, though, none of them exploded. As Zapdos went to rise back into the air, though, a shimmering blue field of energy surrounded it and confined it. Looking to their right, the Rockets found that Abra had subdued the Pokémon and it was now immobile. The Rocket Grunt with the Master Ball looked down at Abra and said, "Good work Abra. Now, keep him immobile while I capture him."

Abra nodded as the Rocket drew out the Master Ball, stepping forward and pushing the center button on the ball. The ball expanded in size until it was slightly larger than a baseball. The Rocket then tossed it up to Zapdos but much to his surprise, Zapdos overpowered the psychic energy field that Abra was using to contain the Legendary Bird and it fired off a blast of lightning at the Master Ball. The lightning bolt struck the Master Ball and drilled a hole through its center, shattering the ball. The bolt of lightning continued on, striking the Rocket that threw it in the chest, drilling a hole into the Rocket's chest as electricity arced across his body. The Rocket fell over onto his back as the other Rockets' eyes went wide. A blast of Thunder later, the Abra joined the Koffings in unconsciousness. The other three Rockets were not so lucky. Not having the durability of a Pokémon, they suffered fatal injury when Zapdos unleashed its Discharge upon them and they fell to the ground, electricity arcing across their bodies. Once the battle was over, the Legendary Bird flew away from the Power Plant, deciding to rest in an area that was not patrolled by Team Rocket.

Meanwhile, over on the Seafoam Islands, another quartet of Rocket Grunts was having just as hard a time with Articuno, a large blue Ice/Flying Pokémon, and second of the Legendary Birds. A beam of ice erupted from Articuno's beak and froze a Rocket in a block of ice, along with his Kadabra, while a second Rocket tossed a Master Ball up to Articuno in an attempt to capture it. Articuno turned and fired a second Ice Beam at the Master Ball, encasing it in ice. The ball fell out of the air and struck the ground, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. Articuno, knowing of Team Rocket's evil, used Sheer Cold on the Grunts. A light blue outline appeared over its body and then the Legendary Bird unleashed a wave of blue energy upon the Rockets. Upon striking the Rockets, the wave froze them solid. Flapping its wings, it used Gust to blow over the new ice sculptures, causing them to shatter upon striking the ground. With that battle over, Articuno went back into the island caves to roost.

Over on Mount Silver in eastern Johto, just west of Kanto, six Rocket Grunts were faring even worse against Moltres, a large bird with a yellow orange body with a fiery tail, plumage, and wings, retreated a few feet away from the Rockets as the lead Rocket, an Agent, tossed a Master Ball its way. Moltres countered with Heat Wave. A wave of fire erupted from its beak and struck the Master Ball mid-flight. The flames melted the Master Ball and continued down towards the Rockets unabated. The Rockets tried to turn and flee but were unable to escape the flames as they scored direct hits on the Rockets, igniting them. The Rockets did not have time to scream as they were instantly reduced to ashes. With the Rockets defeated, Moltres moved to an adjacent cavern where it could rest and relax without any interruption.

Meanwhile, over at Lake Valor in the Sinnoh Region, three members of Team Rocket along with their Pokémon, Kadabra, Honchkrow, a large crow-like Pokémon with dark blue feathers with partially red undersides, and a crest of white feathers on its chest, and a Skarmory, made their way into Valor Cavern. Once inside, they searched for their quarry, quickly spotting Azelf, a fairy-like Pokémon with a grayish-blue body with a blue face with a red jewel in the middle of its head along with two tails that each had a small red jewel on them as well, in the middle of the cavern. As soon as Azelf saw the Rockets, it felt the malice in their hearts and unleashed a Confusion attack on Team Rocket and their Pokémon. Purple waves of psychic energy lashed out at the humans and Pokémon and the Rockets were sent flying. They landed a few feet away and got up to continue the fight. One of the Rockets, however, was confused and drew his side arm, a freeze gun, and shot his partner. A wall of ice expanded over the Rocket grunt, encasing him in ice and turning him into an ice statue. The other Rocket, who had maintained his senses, quickly turned on the confused Rocket and, drawing his lightning fired on the confused Rocket. The lightning bolt drilled through the confused Rocket's abdomen and electricity arced across his body as he fell to the ground either unconscious or dead.

Meanwhile, the three Pokémon had suffered only minimal damage, with Kadabra being Psychic-type and Skarmory being part Steel-type. Honchkrow, however, suffered no damage at all, due to being part Dark-type and quickly retaliated with Confuse Ray. Six golden orbs of light appeared around Honchkrow and orbited its body. It then propelled the lights towards Azelf before it could recover and use another move to escape the Rockets. The lights made contact with Azelf and its eyes began to wander as it fired off a Future Sight attack on the frozen Rocket grunt. The remaining Rocket Grunt quickly commanded Honchkrow, "Use Mean Look to keep it from escaping!"

Honchkrow obeyed and it glared at Azelf, an outline of its eyes appearing in Azelf's mind. Azelf attempted to teleport out of the cavern but found itself unable to do so. The surviving Rocket Grunt took out his Master Ball and pushed its center button, causing it to expand to full size. He tossed the Master Ball at Azelf, who attempted to use Confusion to toss the ball away, but its Confusion prevented it from focusing on the ball. The ball hit Azelf in the head and opened, transforming the Pokémon into a blob of red energy, which was then drawn into the ball. The Master Ball closed and fell back to the ground. There it wobbled as the Pokémon attempted to escape, which would be impossible for the Pokémon due to the strength of the Master Ball. After the third wobble, the light on the center button flashed and a series of sparkles was emitted from the ball. The Rocket Grunt approached the ball just as Azelf's Future Sight energy blast appeared from the sky and rained down on the frozen Rocket, shattering him. The surviving Grunt picked up the ball and looked back at his two companions, scoffing with contempt as he walked away, unconcerned about their fates. He went over to Kadabra and told it, "Take us back to base."

"Kadabra," the Pokémon said, nodding. Its eyes flashed as it, the Rocket Grunt, and both Skarmory and Honchkrow disappeared from the cavern.

The capture of Uxie, a fairy-like Pokémon with a gray body, two tails with red jewels on them, and a partially yellow head with a red jewel in the middle, was a little easier, and less costly, than the capture of Azelf. The trio of Rockets had entered Acuity Cavern in the middle of Lake Acuity with their Pokémon Abra, Carnivine, Aggron, and Shedinja, already deployed and did not give Uxie a chance to fight, or flee, initiating the attack by having Carnivine launch a cloud of Sleep Powder on Uxie. Uxie, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Rockets and their Pokémon, unleashed an Extrasensory attack on the lead Rocket Grunt, a yellow spiral beam of energy erupted from Uxie's forehead and struck the lead Rocket Grunt in the chest. The beam sent the Rocket flying backwards and towards the entrance to the cave. Eventually, he landed on the ground, where he remained still, either unconscious or dead. However, just as Uxie had unleashed his attack on the grunt, the cloud of Sleep Powder floated on him and it breathed in the cloud. The bluish powder was sufficient to put the Pokémon to sleep and it closed its eyes and floated softly to the ground fast asleep. Wasting no time, the lead Grunt pulled out a Master Ball and tossed it at the sleeping Pokémon. It struck the creature and opened just after it struck the Pokémon. The Pokémon was converted into red energy and was drawn into the ball. Once it was inside the ball, the ball closed and landed on the ground. It wobbled for a few seconds before a chime sounded, a light flashed and a series of sparkles were emitted from the ball. The surviving Rocket Grunts grinned.

The second Grunt of the trio went over to the ball and stooped over to pick it up. He got out a Pokédex and scanned the ball, wanting to get a reading on the Pokémon and its power. He had heard that Pokémon oftentimes lost power when caught inside of Poké Balls. The scans came back and indicated that Uxie was just as powerful as they had believed, as well as it still being asleep. The Grunt turned to his companion and said, "Job's done. Let's get out of here."

The other Grunt nodded as they both called back their Pokémon, save for Abra. They went over to their fallen companion and picked up his Poké Ball. Calling back his Pokémon, they told Abra, "Okay Abra, take us back to base."

Abra gave a nod as its eyes glowed and the Rockets disappeared, leaving the cave deserted save for the fallen Rocket.

Meanwhile, over in Verity Cavern over in Lake Verity, the Rocket Grunts that were tasked with capturing Mesprit, were very cautious about how they went about capturing the small gray fairy-like Pokémon with two tails with small red jewels encrusted on them. In addition, it had a pink face with four long drooping appendages, which seemed to count for its ears, and a red jewel on its forehead. The three Rocket Grunts, knowing Mesprit's propensity for fleeing immediately upon sighting any Pokémon Trainer had entered the cavern under invisibility cloaking devices, being very careful to not make a sound, for fear of alerting the Pokémon to their presence. The lead Grunt fished into his pocket and pulled out his Master Ball, wanting to make the capture as quickly as possible. As long as Mesprit was inside the Master Ball, it was under Team Rocket's control.

The trio continued to near Mesprit's position, not revealing any Pokémon, knowing that it would alert Mesprit to their presence and cause it to flee. They were soon within only a few feet of the Pokémon. The leader of the Grunts waited for the Pokémon to turn away so that he could capture it without risking it fleeing. There, he waited patiently for several minutes until Mesprit decided to take a look at its surroundings. As soon as its head was turned, the cloak dropped and the Rocket tossed his Master Ball at the Psychic Pokémon. The ball made contact and opened, converting Mesprit to energy and drawing it into the ball. Once Mesprit was successfully drawn into the ball, it landed on the ground and wobbled around for several seconds until a chime sounded, a light flashed, and silver sparkles were released from the central button of the ball. The Grunts' leader went over and picked up the ball, grinning. "Mission accomplished men," he told them. "Let's get back to base."

With that, the Rockets turned and exited the cave, making sure to arrive at the entrance where an Alakazam was waiting for them. Once they made it to Alakazam, the group teleported back to Team Rocket Headquarters to report their mission's success.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, reading the various reports that were coming in from his field teams. He had grimaced at the fact that his attempts to capture the Legendary Birds had failed as miserably as it had, but had been more relieved to find that the capture of the Lake Trio from the Sinnoh Region had been successful. Now he activated his computer and looked at various video feeds of his Grunts going after several more Pokémon. So far, three teams were engaging the Legendary Beasts of Johto. These beasts all resembled crosses between felines and canines, with Entei, the Fire-type beast that had brown fur with a gray cape-like piece of fur running down its back. Gray plates surrounded the cape and jutted out almost as if it was smoke rising from the body. Next was the Electric-type beast, Raikou. Raikou had yellow fur and was tiger-like in appearance. It also had black stripes reminiscent of lightning bolts, a white underside, and a gray tail that resembled a lightning bolt. The last of the Legendary Beasts was Suicune, a blue mammal-like Pokémon with a white underside and white diamond-shaped spots on its body. It also had a purple mane that was reminiscent of a flowing river and two streamer-like tails.

Watching the teams go after these Pokémon, he winced as Entei unleashed a Fire Blast upon one Rocket, incinerating the hapless Grunt, while another tossed a Master Ball its way. The ball made contact and opened, converting the Legendary Beast into energy and drawing it into the ball. Giovanni grinned as he watched the ball wobble a few times before locking and capturing the Pokémon. Once the sparkles came forth from the ball, Giovanni knew he had another Legendary Pokémon at his disposal. Continuing to watch, he grinned as more and more Legendary Pokémon were captured by his forces. The number of Rockets may have dwindled significantly, but with the capture of these Legendary Pokémon, he knew that he had a force to be reckoned with. By the time all of the teams had either succeeded or failed in their missions, Giovanni had managed to obtain the Legendary Beasts: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, of Johto; the Legendary Golems: Regirock, Registeel, and Regice; Darkrai, Cresselia, Heatran, Shaymin, Latios, and Latias. There was only one team that had not checked back in yet, and was not on the computer screen. That team was currently standing near the entrance to a cave just outside of Cerulean City.

Giovanni had heard rumors of a mysterious Pokémon hanging around in the cave and he had dispatched his elite group of Grunts called the Rocket Brothers to find the Pokémon and capture it. They each had been given a Master Ball, as well as being given some of the most powerful Pokémon in Team Rocket's possession: a Charizard, Aggron, Empoleon, a large regal-looking blue penguin-like Pokémon, and an Alakazam, which would provide emergency transportation should they end up losing the fight and be put in real danger. They also had several other more normal Rocket Pokémon, such as Weezing, Hypno, and even a Parasect, a crustacean-like Pokémon with a large mushroom on its back that looked to be like a shell. Giovanni waited to hear from them, hoping that whatever mysterious Pokémon was inside of Cerulean Cave, it was powerful enough to help him turn his fortunes around.

Over at Cerulean Cave the Rocket Brothers quickly let their Pokémon out of their Poké Balls in anticipation of having a battle in the near future. They told Alakazam and Hypno, "Okay you two, cloak our presence until we find our quarry. Also, link your minds to ours, just in case this mysterious Pokémon we're searching for turns out to be a Mew."

Both Pokémon nodded and gave a cry of affirmation. With that, the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon went into Cerulean Cave, intent on capturing the mysterious Pokémon that lurked inside.

Deep inside the cave, a large number of Pokémon of all different types mulled about, minding their own business. Some were playing in or near any number of underwater streams and lakes, others were drinking from them, and others were simply searching for food. The cave had become a refuge for these Pokémon, a great many of which had either abandoned or escaped their Trainers, and as such, they were very strong and almost always evolved. However, there were two Pokémon inside the cave whose power was utterly terrifying. One of those Pokémon brought a sense of calm and safety to the others, while the other was barely controlled chaos incarnate to them and while she was not at all malicious, in fact, she was quite nice, none of the Pokémon wanted to be in same time zone when said Pokémon came bounding along.

Not too far away from a group of strong Pokémon, a small cat-like Pokémon with fine white fur came bouncing along, mewing as if in song as it went. Upon hearing the singsong mews of the Pokémon, all of the Pokémon in the area immediately froze, a sense of dread and horror coming over them at the sound of coming Pokémon's voice. One Pokémon, a Rhydon, a large gray bipedal Pokémon with a head that partially resembled a triceratops's with a prominent nose horn turned and saw the small cat-like Pokémon bouncing towards them. The Pokémon resembled a common ordinary house cat, in both shape and size, save for its larger eyes and long thin white tail that ended with a thicker rounded tip. The others immediately recognized the jovial Pokémon as being Mew, a recent newcomer to the cave. She had a son, who she always referred to as a sourpuss, but she did not let his "dark" moods get her down. She just seemed to exude more joy and happiness to try to compensate for his lack of cheer.

Unlike most other Mews, though, this Mew had much longer arms than others and her hind legs were much closer in form to a cat's than a rabbit's, making her physical shape and body type much more strongly resemble that of a house cat than a jerboa, which other members of her species seemed to more strongly resemble. She was also significantly more powerful than other members of her species, being able to threaten the entire planet if she ever got enraged enough to lose control of her temper, which she never did. Many Pokémon in the cave suspected that she was always so happy and did her best to never let anything get her down specifically so that she would never feel sad and be a potential threat to the world. Despite her jovial personality, though, she was also not always observant and aware of her surroundings. And with her power, that meant that anyone unfortunate enough to be in her way when she came bounding along would oftentimes need medical attention immediately after she passed.

The Pokémon gave her a wide berth as she bounced and frolicked towards them, numerous items encased in small pink bubbles hovering around her, just managing to stay off the ground as she danced by. On several occasions, she would open her arms and a dazzling display of lights and fireworks would erupt from them. The Pokémon made certain to not be anywhere close to her when that happened, for anything trapped in that display would likely be annihilated. As she went by, she would energetically dance towards the other Pokémon, psychically saying, "Hi," and doing her best to look as happy and cute as possible, in an attempt to cheer all of the other Pokémon as well. She would also dance with some of the Pokémon she came across, too, especially if they looked to be sad or scared, which many were when she came by.

Her attempts to make all of the Pokémon happy and cheerful, rather than terrified beings that felt as if they were in mortal peril, were only partially successful as the other Pokémon could not deny that she was very cute, especially the males, but they were still utterly terrified whenever they heard her bouncing along, especially any flying Pokémon or rodent-like Pokémon like Pikachu or Raichu, for unlike most other Pokémon, Mew was quite carnivorous and almost always preferred meat and live prey to wild berries, apples, and other fruits and vegetables; her favorite being fish. While other Pokémon could be carnivorous should the opportunity present itself, many simply ate wild berries, apples, or whatever Pokémon food from Trainers consisted of. Not Mew, though, as an unfortunate mouse found out when it scurried out in front of her and froze, only to be surrounded by a red field of psychic energy and brought along with her as another bit of the bountiful harvest she had gathered. Many of the rodent-like Pokémon were quite thankful that it had not been them that had been gathered up by Mew, even though she would never eat a sentient, even if her life depended on it.

Deeper inside the cave, on an island surrounded by a relatively large underground lake, resided another Pokémon that Mew had referred to as her son. Anyone who looked at the Pokémon, though, would have wondered how Mew could have birthed such a being, for he was far larger than any Mew and only bore a passing resemblance to her. This Pokémon was humanoid in appearance with some cat-like characteristics and stood at over six feet in height. He had gray body with a purple underside with a long purple tail much thicker than Mew's, and was perfect for bashing an opponent should he be caught flatfooted in close combat. He also had two arms with paws with three digits on each paw, as well as two legs with three digits on each paw as well. He also had purple eyes that glowed blue when he used his psychic powers, and two small ears on the top of his head. He stood in place, meditating, as Mew approached. The other Pokémon felt a sense of calm whenever they saw him rarely venture away from his island sanctuary, but they knew never to bother him at all, for this Pokémon's power was greater even than Mew's. Not only that, but he also had a temper and was more easily annoyed than Mew. While Mew would cause damage simply by not being careful, and any damage she inflicted was hardly ever intentional, this Pokémon was very careful and aware and any damage he would inflict would not be accidental. As such, the other Pokémon inside Cerulean Cave left him alone. In return, he also left them alone, each party keeping to themselves.

He immediately sensed the jovial Pokémon approaching and suppressed a shrug. He had wanted to have some time to himself, but Mew was doing everything in her power to make sure that that did not happen. "Hi Mewtwo, I'm back!" she called in a singsong voice.

Mewtwo immediately gave a shrug as he opened his eyes and caught sight of Mew holding a large assortment of berries and a variety of meats that she must have found on the surface inside a store. He also caught sight of the terrified mouse trapped in her psychic field. "Really?" Mewtwo asked with a shrug. "You know I don't like live prey. Besides, I'm not hungry. I already had breakfast."

"But you're my son," Mew replied cheerfully. "I gave birth to you and I'm a cat. That means that you're also a cat. Cats eat mice, birds, rodents, bugs, and other things, so eat up," she finished, shoving the mouse towards his mouth.

"But I'm not hungry," Mewtwo reiterated, pushing it away.

Mew gave a shrug. "But mice also make great toys. They can scurry away while you chase them," she offered, batting around the unfortunate mouse. "It's a lot of fun."

"Not for the mouse," Mewtwo replied, giving a glum expression towards the hapless rodent.

Mew gave a frown and then looked down at the terrified mouse, still psychically suspended in midair. "Fine, sourpuss," she pouted. She then psychically tossed the mouse to the other side of the small lake, allowing it to land softly so it could leave the cave alive. She had a different breakfast in mind for herself. She went over to the shore and gazed into the lake. Reaching in with her right paw, she managed to snag a fish and lift it out of the water. Killing the fish with a single psychic blast in an instant, she shoved it into her mouth and gobbled it down. Patting her stomach, she gave a satisfied sigh. "That was good," she said, almost sighing, giving off a burp. Turning to Mewtwo, she continued, "I can see why you live here. The fish here are the best and the water is crystal clear. I give this place ten stars," she proclaimed.

"That's not the reason I live down here, Mew," the far larger Pokémon replied.

"I told you before, call me Mom!" Mew pouted.

"No disrespect, but I don't know for certain that you _are_ my mother," he answered. "All of my memories of when I was young are scrambled, with the first memory of me being when I was on New Island."

"Then you must have been captured after burning the Cinnabar Mansion and transferred to the lab there as a baby," Mew answered. "Nevertheless, you are my son, a genetically engineered son, I think, but my son nonetheless. Of that, I'm certain. If you don't believe me, take a DNA test."

"If I was a clone, my DNA would still match yours."

Mew then gave another frown. "Only if they found a way to change your sex, too," she retorted. "Why don't you want to be my son?"

"I don't mind being your son," Mewtwo answered in a concerned tone, trying to assure her that he was happy about having her as his mother, even though there was something that still bothered him about such a small Pokémon being his mother. "After all, it means I have a family."

"Even if you weren't my biological son, you'd always be family to me," Mew answered, smiling as she floated over to Mewtwo and gave him a hug. She then nestled into his arms and looked up at him as cutely as possible. It was strange for Mewtwo and made him a little uncomfortable since he was the child, and she, the adult, despite their size difference, something that she easily caught onto. "Now if only you could be a baby once more and I could cuddle you the way you have the ability to cuddle me now," she lamented.

Mewtwo said nothing as Mew then turned to face him with a bright smile on her face once more. "I know!" she exclaimed excitedly. She then transformed into a female version of Mewtwo, a pink bow on her head and round breasts on her chest. However, she would have still been decent by human societal standards.

Mewtwo merely gave a shrug and sat back down on the ground. Mew merely went over and hugged her son, embarrassing him even more, despite the fact that there were no Pokémon or other life-forms present to see her display of affection. Seeing that her son would not nestle in her bosom, she gave a huff and transformed back into her normal form. There, she sat until another idea came to mind and she perked up once more.

"Hey, I know. Why don't you, your father, and I all go on a vacation to the Hawaiian Islands?" she exclaimed. "They have great food, great water, great beaches, and I could parade my cuteness to all the tourists. You'd also get to meet lots of other life-forms: human, Pokémon, and normal animal. It's better than staying in this dark, dank cave for the rest of your life."

"I thought you just said you could see why I stayed here," Mewtwo replied, glancing back at his mother.

"I know that the clear water and good fish aren't the reason you stay here," she retorted, becoming more serious. "You just want to be alone."

Mewtwo gave a smile. "May I?"

"No," came Mew's quick answer. "I'm gonna break you out of that shell if it's the last thing I do." She then floated up behind Mewtwo's back and began to push him towards the edge of the island, declaring, "Now come on and let's get going. We have to get your dad so we can go on our very own world cruise."

Mewtwo suppressed a shrug, as well as the urge to push back and send his mother flying into the wall on the other side of the cave, as she pushed him along the ground to the edge of the island. However, just as they got close to the edge of the island, Mewtwo sensed something and he planted his foot into the rocky ground, anchoring himself to the ground. Mew tried to move him, but was unable to do so. "Come on you sourpuss," she complained. "Stop pouting and let's get…"

"Quiet," Mewtwo commanded harshly. His order silenced Mew and she gave a pout. Sensing her disapproval, he told her, "We're not alone. Someone's coming."

Extending his psychic senses, he sensed the arrival of the Rocket Brothers as they entered the cavern housing the underground lake and island. "Stay here," he told his mother. "I'm going to see who it is." He already knew that it was the Rocket Brothers and merely hoped that Mew would not become too curious as to who these intruders were. The last thing he wanted was her being curious as to what was going on with Team Rocket and having her guard lowered around them, which it almost always was, or seemed to be. After all, that was likely how Team Rocket scientists managed to find her and contain her while she was pregnant with him in the first place. Mew did her best to look annoyed, but she did not protest, or follow along immediately, as Mewtwo floated over to see what four members of Team Rocket were doing here. Still, he could not help but notice a curious sensation come over Mew as she watched him float over to the shore.

Over on the shore, the Rocket Brothers emerged from the tunnel that led to the underground cavern, lake, and island. One of the brothers, complained, "Man, of all the strong Pokémon in the cave, why couldn't there be any really rare _and_ powerful ones. I've had enough of all the Golbats and Kadabras."

"Yeah, why not have a battle trained Alakazam or a really rare Pokémon like a Dragonite or a Mew?" one of the others agreed. "We could really use some after our more recent losses."

"Quiet, both of you," the brother standing in front of the others, and the de facto leader, snapped. "I'm picking up something on my scanner."

Looking forward, they saw a large bipedal cat-like Pokémon standing before them, with a smaller cat-like Pokémon floating behind it. They recognized the smaller Pokémon as being Mew, but they had no idea of what the larger Pokémon was. They were shocked at the sight of the Pokémon and one of them pulled out a Pokédex. Upon scanning it, the scan came back in the form of a male mechanical voice, "Pokémon unknown. No available data."

The Rocket Brothers looked surprised at the lack of data given by the Pokédex. Still, they thought that there was something familiar about the Pokémon, noticing its passing similarity to Mew. Switching to Mew, they then scanned the newcomer, the scan coming back with an image of a Mew with shorter front legs, or arms, and more rabbit-like feet, saying, "Mew, the New Species Pokémon. It is said that Mew carries the DNA of all Pokémon in the world and is believed to be the origin of all Pokémon in the world."

The Rocket Brothers gave a frown and had the Pokédex perform a genetic scan on the two Pokémon. The Rocket Brothers scanned both Mew and Mewtwo once more, suspecting him of being related to Mew, given the appearance of a Mew behind him. The scan soon came back, the monotone voice once again speaking. "Scan complete. DNA indicates that Pokémon is an evolution of the Mew species. Scans indicate that this Pokémon is the biological offspring of the female Mew behind him. Powers and abilities unknown."

That did not help the Rocket Brothers very much. They were hoping that the scans would indicate just how powerful the Mew and Mewtwo were. While they knew that their mission was to capture rare and powerful Pokémon, they did not want to waste their Master Balls on weak Pokémon, though given the appearance of Mewtwo; it certainly did not look like he was weak. It was then that they heard Mewtwo speak as his voice echoed throughout their minds, "Why have four Team Rocket agents come here?"

The fact that the Pokémon could speak, albeit telepathically, greatly surprised them. They had not heard of a Pokémon that could speak before, besides the Meowth that was with Jessie and James. Even if this evolution of Mew was not all that powerful, there would be a ton of Pokémon collectors that would want this creature. The Mew, itself, would also be valuable. These two Pokémon could solve Team Rocket's money problems in a heartbeat. Without even hinting at giving Mewtwo an answer, they answered his question when the two lead brothers pulled out their Master Balls and tossed them at Mew and Mewtwo.

"Wow cool!" Mew exclaimed as the purple Master Ball approached her. "That's a really cool design for a Poké Ball."

Mewtwo did not agree, for he knew that it was a Master Ball, a Poké Ball that was said to be able to capture any Pokémon without fail. He also sensed a strange energy emanating from the ball, something dark. Wasting no time, he used his telekinesis to suspend the Poké Balls in midair. Mewtwo's eyes flashed and the two Poké Balls exploded into a shower of dust and shrapnel. Just as the Poké Balls exploded, he wiped the minds of the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon of the incident and teleported them out of the cave, and to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Mew gave a frown after the Rocket Brothers disappeared. "Did you have to annihilate them?" she moaned.

"They are fine," Mewtwo answered in a dour tone, indicating that he would much rather _have_ annihilated them than let them leave the cave alive. "I teleported them and their Pokémon to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean. I also wiped their minds of the incident so that they would have no memory of ever having met us."

Mew did not perk up at hearing that her son had not killed them. "Why'd you do that?" she asked still perturbed. "It's not like they're a threat to us."

"No," Mewtwo partially agreed. "But they _are_ a threat to others. Also, the fact that Team Rocket managed to find us tells me that they may have a purpose for us. I wish to investigate this a bit further. From my scan, I know that Team Rocket is assembling an army of Pokémon, so…"

"No," Mew finished for him, covering his mouth. "They're dealt with. We don't have to bother ourselves with Team Rocket or any other human criminal organization."

Mewtwo disagreed. "I have the power to destroy them once and for all. You do, too. We can't just sit around and waste our talents."

"We also have the power to rule the world," Mew countered. "And we'd probably be better at it than those already in charge. Yet, we don't do so. This is a human problem. Let them deal with it." Changing the subject, she continued, "As for us, it's time for me to teach you how flying ought to be done."

"Mom, I already know how to…" but before he finished, he quickly found himself standing over a vast tourist resort that was either in the Bahamas, or in another Atlantic paradise island.

"First, you have to get out of that dark, dank cave and get some fresh air and space," Mew said patronizingly, holding a finger up for her new student. Mewtwo could only shrug as he was forced to go through Mew's lesson. As she taught him, her face constantly split into a grin and she knew only happiness and joy. Mewtwo, on the other hand, could not help but shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen, and that it might also affect one of his few friends in the world.

Meanwhile, over on an uncharted Pacific island, the four Rocket Brothers found themselves appearing in the middle of a dense jungle. Without any idea how they had gotten there, or why they were there, they looked around at each other. Each of them knew, though, that this was not their intended destination at all. "Where are we?" one of them asked, perplexed as to what was happening."

"I don't know," another answered. He then pulled out a datapad with a map and activated it. The map showed that they were nowhere close to any known cities or countries.

"I don't know what we're doing here, but I know that this isn't where we're supposed to be," the third brother said.

The leader nodded. "I agree." They soon looked around and saw that their Pokémon were just as confused as to what had happened as they were. Recalling all of their Pokémon, save for Alakazam. Once they were inside their Poké Balls, the leader of the Rocket Brothers, and the oldest of them, ordered, "Alakazam, take us back to base."

The Psychic-type Pokémon nodded and the Rockets vanished from the island.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, the Rocket Brothers appeared next to Giovanni. Giovanni's Persian, noticing the arrival of the brothers, gave a meow and alerter Giovanni to their arrival. "You're back," he noted.

"Yes sir," they each responded in unison.

"Were you successful?"

The brothers glanced around, noticing the activity around them as the rest of Team Rocket was making preparations for their assault on Leaf and the leaders of the Pokémon League. "We don't know," the oldest of them eventually answered. "We have no memory of where we were. All we remember is leaving base, and then finding ourselves on some uncharted island. The thing is, though, that I think that our target may have been there. I just don't know."

Giovanni gave a frown. They had just described a selective memory wipe in perfect detail. "I'll take that as a no," he answered for them. This was not what he needed. There were very few humans or Pokémon that could perform such a perfect memory wipe that there was little suspicion on the part of the victim. He could not worry about that right now. He was so close to taking down one of his greatest enemies. He could not afford to be sidetracked now. "Don't worry about it," he told them sternly. "I'll deal with it later. Right now, you're being dispatched to Double-Oh-Nine. She'll need all the help she can get."

"Yes, sir," the brothers responded in unison.

Turning his attention to the large screen in front of him, he barked, "Get me Double-Oh-Nine." The face of the young blond haired woman soon appeared on the screen.

"I read you, sir," Domino answered, knowing that it was Giovanni was calling even before he had begun to speak. "Are we a go?"

"Yes," Giovanni confirmed, nodding. "Phases One and Two are complete. I am sending you some reinforcements, including the Rocket Brothers. Once they join you, go!" Giovanni commanded.

"With pleasure, sir," Domino replied in a sadistic tone.

The signal was then cut and the screen went blank. Giovanni nodded towards the brothers and their Alakazam teleported them to Domino's location. Once they were gone, Giovanni grinned and awaited news of the destruction of the leadership of the World Pokémon League. With so many troops participating in the attack, there was no way they could fail.

Back near Indigo Plateau, Domino and the rest of her force of Rocket Grunts and Agents waited as more than sixteen reinforcements arrived to bolster her forces. Once the Rockets arrived, the Agents asked for the Grunts, "What's the situation, Double-Oh-Nine?"

"We're gonna attack that hotel," Domino replied, pointing into the distance. "The World Pokémon League Champion's gonna be there, both the current one and the former one, too."

"Leaf's there?" one of the Grunts asked with a mixture of both exhilaration and trepidation.

Domino nodded. "She's there, alright; her, her family, and several other big players in the Pokémon League. If we succeed, we'll cripple the Pokémon League to the point where Team Rocket'll be able to take over with ease. Our mission is to take them out. We're not holding back. We're going in with everything we've got. Our mission is to kill them."

She turned to examine the forces that had assembled to gauge their reaction to their orders and what she saw caused her to grin. They were chomping at the bit to go down and take the fight to the League. They did not care at all that they were being ordered to murder some children and families. The Rockets drew out their Poké Balls and also their side arms. They were eager to get a piece of the action, themselves as well. With that, the small army headed down the hill and headed towards the hotel, their goal: the death of everyone at Ash's birthday party, especially Ash Ketchum and Leaf.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Inside the hotel party hall, Ash continued to talk to his mother and Professor Oak, telling them about his recent adventures while they were eating. Ash had gotten a large steak with potatoes and a soda, while his mother was eating a chicken dish and Professor Oak was having soup. The adults listened as Ash recounted his adventures ever since he had last seen them. Traveling alone was a unique experience for him. On almost all of his previous adventures, he had had at least two companions. Going it alone had been a new challenge for him. However, he viewed it as a good learning experience for him. After he had finished talking, his mother said, "And to think, now you're the new World Pokémon League Champion. I'm so proud of you, honey!" Her face beamed as she smiled at him.

"You certainly were impressive in the battle," Professor Oak added. "No one had ever managed to defeat Leaf before."

"I still don't view _that_ as a win," Ash interjected.

"Why not?" Delia asked. "You were able to tie with her in the Pokémon Battle and managed to subdue her in the real fight. _She_ was the one who challenged you to a physical battle and she also interfered in Pikachu's battle with Tyranitar."

Ash was silent for a second, trying to think of what to say. "There's a little more to it than that," he eventually told them. "It's just that I've never participated in a Pokémon Battle where the Trainers directly fought before."

"It used to be standard practice," Professor Oak said.

"So I've heard," Ash replied.

"And I can see why it was discontinued," Delia added. She had not been comfortable seeing Ash engage Mia in a physical battle, especially when she had seen Mia quickly gain the upper hand. Had she not made the mistake of trying to wrestle with Ash, she would have easily defeated him. She looked over at her son and found that his attention was elsewhere. He was looking around at the party and the various guests. He had yet to mingle with May, Dawn, or Tracey. Despite the fact that they were pretty close by, he seemed to have his attention focused on another. Following his gaze, she found that Ash was staring at Leaf, his opponent in the battle for the World Pokémon League Championship. She seemed to be gazing at the group as if she wanted to join them, but was hesitant to do so. She often turned to look over at another area of the party. Over in the corner, Delia saw a Tyranitar, as well as an extra Venusaur and a Chandelure. Leaf had brought her Pokémon to the party. For a fleeting moment, she thought that she actually recognized Leaf from somewhere, but could not place where she had met the girl before.

Noticing that Delia was focusing her attention away from the group, much like Ash, Professor asked, "What is it Delia?"

Professor Oak's question got Delia's attention and she turned to him, answering, "I don't know." She gave another pause as she glanced back towards Mia, not knowing the girl's connection to Ash, or her, and continued, "But for the faintest of moments, I thought I recognized Leaf."

"Recognized her?"

Delia nodded. Ash heard the conversation and a glimmer of hope came to him that his mother would recognize Mia. He wished for Mia to come over and hoped that she would pick up on his thoughts through their bond. However, she continued to stand off at a distance and merely look over at the group from time to time, as well as talking to Tyranitar. Eventually, she began to approach the small table where the three were sitting. When she arrived, she stood off a couple of meters away. Ash, not wanting to give her away completely, used his bond to send his feelings and wish for her to join them to her. He felt her cautious response as she continued to stand away. Professor Oak, however, was quick to notice that Ash was looking at something and followed his gaze, finding Mia standing not too far away. "Well well, it looks like we have another guest," he said in a friendly tone. "And quite the unexpected one, it seems."

Delia looked behind her and saw Mia standing there, looking back and forth between her and Ash. While she was not so surprised to see the girl, having caught a glimpse of her a short time ago, she _was_ surprised at how Mia's gaze was going back and forth between her and Ash. She also began to wonder how the girl had managed to come to this party since, besides Cynthia and Lance, who doubled as security for the party, as well as having to give Ash "the speech" on his new responsibilities as the World Pokémon League Champion, none of the other Elite Champions had come to the party. Besides, neither she, nor Professor Oak, had invited the girl. "Leaf, what are you doing here?" she asked. "Also, how did you get in?"

"I was invited," she eventually answered sheepishly. She had no idea on how to talk to her mother. So many conflicting emotions were going through her mind at the moment. Did she remember her? If so, why had she not looked for her? Did she believe her to be dead? Did she not care? She simply did not know what to think.

"By whom?" Professor Oak and Delia asked in unison.

"By me," came Ash's answer. He gave a kind smile to Mia. _Go on, Mia. Tell them who you are_.

 _I can't_ , she responded telepathically. _I don't even know if Mom knows I exist_.

 _You'll never find out unless you ask her_ , came Ash's sage response, which actually surprised Mia, causing her to give a little laugh, which confused Delia and Professor Oak, but also seemed to bring back memories for Delia. For an instant, she felt that she recognized the girl's laugh. The only problem was that she could not remember how she knew Leaf, if that was her real name to begin with.

"You invited her?" Delia asked, surprised at the revelation. "So honey, what caused you to invite your final opponent to your birthday party and Championship celebration?" she eventually asked. Her smile indicated that she was amused at the prospect of Ash having a girlfriend.

Ash turned to Mia and motioned for her to give the answer, but she merely blushed and stared back at him. Eventually, she replied, "I went to the Pokémon Center to heal my friends and Ash and I got talking about the responsibilities of being a Champion and I talked to him about the battle."

"Why did you invoke the Old Rules?" Professor Oak blurted in question. "They have not been invoked in over a decade, and for good reason."

Mia gave him a slight scowl. "As the so-called Pokémon Professor of the Kanto Region, you should know why I would do something like that," she replied.

Her answer took him aback at first but after a few seconds, he began to understand where she was coming from. "I see," he eventually said, nodding knowingly. "Still, it's something I would have expected out of N or Unova's Team Plasma, not the Pokémon League Champion," Professor Oak stated.

"I'm surprised you've heard of Team Plasma," she said in a conversational tone. "They were in Unova, and weren't around for a long time before being disbanded."

"I've heard of them," Professor Oak responded, looking down at the ground. "At first glance, I wrote them off as merely another organization like Team Rocket or one of the many other criminal teams. And while upon further glance they were not nearly as evil as Team Rocket, they were terribly misguided and their goals would have still been detrimental to the rest of the world. Not to mention the fact that they were ruled by someone just as bad as Cyrus or Team Rocket's leaders."

"I'll agree with you about Ghetsis, but I don't think that N and Team Plasma were truly evil," Mia contested. "While their method of carrying out their goal was clearly wrong, wanting Pokémon to be free and equal to humans is not evil, or wrong. That's why I didn't join them, despite agreeing with them about wanting Pokémon to not be viewed as slaves."

"I see," Professor Oak said.

As Professor Oak and Mia were talking, Ash merely watched their discussion and listened to their points of view. His attention quickly turned to the rest of the party. All of his friends were having fun and discussing various things about their quests. The Pokémon were also interacting with each other, save for Charizard, Tyranitar, and Sceptile. All three Pokémon soon saw that the other was not associating all that much with the others, merely watching the party from a distance, and when their gazes crossed, they studied each other. Ash smiled as Tyranitar and Charizard went over to a tray of Pokémon food and talked, rather than fought over the food. Serperior quickly joined them and the three of them quickly seemed to talk. He soon noticed that Professor Oak and Mia's discussion had ended and that Mia was looking at the scene from behind. She gave a soft laugh and noted, "It seems as if Tyranitar is finally opening up a bit." What the party did not notice, though, was that Mia's Chandelure was watching over the party and extending its senses beyond the party hall, wanting to make sure that no trouble came searching for them. Trouble, however, was not too far away, and approaching fast.

Domino and the Team Rocket assault force quickly approached the hotel, not bothering to use any disguises. They felt as if their strength in numbers would be sufficient. With more than forty grunts and agents, plus their Pokémon, they felt as if they had more than enough troops to deal with the Champion, former Champion, two World Elite Four members, plus whoever else was present at their targets' location.

"Everyone be alert," Domino warned. "Despite reports, there may be some secret security systems in the hotel that our operatives didn't learn about, and deactivate."

"Right," the Rocket Grunts echoed as they loaded and charged their side arms and readied their Poké Balls. They wanted to find their targets quickly and kill them as fast as possible. None of the Rockets relished the prospect of battling Leaf in a protracted fight, for she had proven time and again that she was a skilled trainer, and her Pokémon were very strong. Domino drew out her lightning gun and led the group towards the hotel entrance.

Domino and the Rocket forces made their way into the hotel and immediately found Jessie, James, and Meowth in security uniforms coming to meet them. When they arrived, Domino asked, "So, are the security systems down?"

The trio nodded. "Hotel security is blind and deaf," Jessie answered quietly. "They have no idea we're here, or that we were scouting the place for you."

"Excellent," Domino said in a sinister tone. "Do you know where this party for the new Champion is being held?"

"They're in Dragonite Hall," Jessie answered for the other two.

"It's on the basement level and can be accessed via escalator," James added before Jessie could continue, wanting to show his worth. "There's also an exterior entrance to the final corridor. There are no extra security forces protecting the hall on the lower level, or outside the hotel."

"It would also be da perfect place for a group of Grunts ta enter and launch a surprise attack," Meowth interjected.

"I'll decide the plan of attack," Domino snapped. While Meowth did have a point, she did not like it when a Pokémon, particularly this Meowth, gave her suggestions. Still, the plan had merit. The chances of an all out frontal assault being effective were small, especially if Leaf and her Pokémon were ready for such a maneuver. She then turned to the rest of the force and informed them, "Okay, a modification of plans: Team One, you're under the command of Jessie, James, and Meowth for the moment."

"What?" Butch and Cassidy blurted, their disapproval evident on their faces. Jessie and James could not hide the grins on their faces.

"Shut up," Domino snapped. "I'm in charge of the mission here, and _I_ will make the decisions." She then turned back to Jessie, James, and Meowth and added, "And don't you forget it, either."

Once she was finished chastising the two teams, she continued, "Team One will launch the first wave of the attack, going down the escalator and going in guns and Pokémon blazing. Your mission is simple: kill Leaf and the new Champion, Ash Ketchum. Also, kill their Pokémon as well if you can since they're a lot more independent than the Pokémon of other Trainers. As for the other guests, kill them if you see them and have a good shot. However, don't go out of your way to get them. Your primary targets are Ash and Leaf, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," the Rockets responded in unison.

"Good. I will be in direct command of Team Two. We'll be taking the long way around and entering from the hotel entrance just outside the hall. We'll be late to the party, but if Leaf and the others are mounting a strong defense, they should be too distracted fighting off Team One for them to focus on us. We'll take advantage of that and hopefully kill Leaf and Ash quickly, assuming they're not already dead. Any questions?"

One of the Rocket Grunts raised his hand. "What is it?" Domino asked.

"Double-Oh-Nine, what happens if the rumors about Leaf having a Mew, or being close to one are true?"

"We can't worry about that right now," she answered. "We have to focus on the mission. Hopefully, we won't have to find out one way or the other whether or not those rumors are correct. Any more questions?" she asked after a long pause. No one raised their hands. "Okay then, you know your assignments. Go!"

With that, the force broke off into two teams. Domino led Team Two out of the hotel and went to make her way around to the back while Jessie, James, and Meowth led Team One towards the escalator. The group of seventeen Rocket Grunts and Agents soon made their way down the escalator, fingering their Poké Balls, preparing to release them the moment they got within sight of Dragonite Hall. "Okay everyone," Butch called out to the others. "This is it. Let's make this a party they won't soon forget, much less survive."

"Oh yeah," the Rockets answered as one. With that, the Rockets released their Pokémon from their Poké Balls. Out came a large variety of Pokémon from the normal Koffings, Weezings, and Drowzees, to the rarer Skarmory, a large, gray bird-like Steel/Flying-type Pokémon, Doduo, a bipedal two-headed Normal/Flying-type Pokémon that resembled a cross between an ostrich and a kiwi with brown feathers, to even having a Charizard and a Tentacruel, a large jellyfish-like Pokémon. Jessie and James also released all of their Pokémon from their Poké Balls and took the lead. Once all of their Pokémon had been deployed, the Rockets launched their assault.

Inside Dragonite Hall, the birthday celebration for Ash was beginning. A large cake was being brought to him and his family and friends that were present. May, Dawn, and Tracey, along with all of their Pokémon, gathered around the table as they sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Mia stood off at a distance watching the celebration. She did not want to interrupt Ash's party. Despite the fact that she was his sister and that they had just found each other once again, this was his party. She did not wish to intrude upon it. Her mother had not recognized her when she had been called over by Ash, and several of Ash's friends had referred to her as his girlfriend, rather than anything else, despite any slight resemblance that they may have shared. Since her mother had not recognized her, and it was Ash's celebration, she was content to keep her distance and watch. She resolved to tell her mother the truth about her as soon as the celebration was over. This would be the worst time to bring up her true identity to her mother.

Mia watched as Ash blew out the candles, just barely managing to extinguish them with one breath. After the candles were blown out, the group began cutting pieces of cake for the guests. Seeing that Mia was still standing off at a distance, Ash called over to her, saying, "Come on, Mia, have some cake."

"Mia?" Delia and Professor Oak asked in unison. Turning to the girl, Delia asked, "Is that your real name?"

Mia was about to give an answer when both Starmie and Chandelure quickly approached, Chandelure's eyes glowing as it quickly said its name in almost frantic tones. Starmie's core was also flashing, indicating that it, too, was trying to tell them something. Mia did not need any Pokédex translation to know that they were warning her of danger to not only herself, but to the rest of the party. Several other Pokémon stopped whatever it was that they were doing and focused their attention to the door. Knowing that an attack was imminent, Mia immediately turned over the closest table, knocking off all of the china and silverware, and ducked behind it. Charizard, Tyranitar, and several other Pokémon followed her lead as Ash, Delia, and Professor Oak went over to her an yelled, "What are you doing?"

"We're under attack!" she cried in warning. Turning to her Pokémon, who were already forming ranks and taking cover behind the tables, she commanded, "When the attackers come through, attack immediately. Don't give them a chance to deploy their…" but before she could finish, the large doors to the hall were blown inward. Metal was flung from the doors to the tables, forcing everyone to take cover. The Pokémon and humans reflexively dove behind the tables. Those that were made of metal were strong enough to protect Ash, Mia, and the partiers from the shrapnel. Those that were made of wood, though, did not hold up nearly as well and some pieces managed to pierce them. Fortunately, none of the guests had taken cover behind the wooden tables. Surging through the blown through doors were seventeen Team Rocket members, along with their Pokémon. Ash immediately recognized Jessie, James, and Meowth as they entered, supported by fifteen other Rockets. He also vaguely remembered Butch and Cassidy from several previous encounters, though Mia had had more recent experience in treating them like living practice dummies. "Team Rocket," Mia seethed when she saw the Rockets flood into the hall.

As they entered, the Rockets and their Pokémon formed ranks, the Pokémon lining up in front of the Trainers as Butch and Cassidy stepped forward, despite the fact that Jessie, James, and Meowth were supposed to be in charge of the team. As soon as Cassidy stepped forward, she proclaimed, "Prepare for trouble…"

"…and make it double," Butch continued.

But before they could continue with their motto, Mia cried in a loud voice, "Attack! Deadly force is authorized! Hold nothing back!"

Her Pokémon were quick to obey as Jolteon launched a Thunderbolt towards a Golbat. The bolt of lightning struck the bat-like Pokémon in its center of mass and electricity arced across its body as it gave a cry of pain as it was immediately rendered unconscious by the attack. The Pokémon quickly fell to the ground and was out of the fight. The rest of Mia's Pokémon also launched a series of attacks on several of the Pokémon that had formed ranks in front of the Rockets. Two more Rocket Pokémon, a Hitmontop, a Fighting-type Pokémon with a spherical body with two thin legs, a tail, and a brown head that had curved flat extensions and a single spike, and a Weezing fell to the series of attacks. The two Pokémon were forced backwards, one by a Psychic attack from Starmie, with the other having sustained a direct hit from both a Solar Beam from Venusaur, and a Flamethrower from Chandelure, forcing two Rockets to dive to the ground to avoid the incoming Pokémon as they sailed over the humans and crashed into the wall in the outside corridor and slid down to the floor, unconscious. Next, a Hyper Beam launched from Tyranitar zeroed in on a series of Pokémon, but two Rocket Alakazams immediately appeared and each raised a Light Screen over the party. The Hyper Beam struck the barrier and splashed against, breaking through the first Light Screen, but failing to breach the second.

"We've taken precautions against your Pokémon and their moves," Cassidy bragged. "Alakazam, use Reflect!"

Immediately, a second screen rose above the Team Rocket force that had assaulted the party. However, since only one Pokémon knew Reflect, only one layer was erected over the attacking force. Mia grimaced, for her primary force did not have a Pokémon that knew Brick Break, which would allow her to collapse the Light Screen and Reflect barriers. Not only that, but none of Ash's Pokémon that were present knew Brick Break either. She hoped that one of Ash's friends had a Pokémon that knew the move, but when she looked back, she saw that they were taking cover behind the tables. Team Rocket soon upped the ante when the Grunts, save for Jessie, James, and Meowth, drew guns and opened fire on the group, forcing everyone, including Mia and her Pokémon, to dive for cover. Their Pokémon also joined in the onslaught and unleashed a series of attacks to support their Trainers. Energy bolts, waves, and bullets flew all around the room as Team Rocket attempted to slaughter Ash, Mia, and all of the guests.

Mia barely got behind cover as a barrage of energy bolts, bullets, and Pokémon attacks tore through the air. Checking the rest of her party, she found that her Pokémon had managed to dive behind cover. They occasionally emerged to take a few shots at the Rockets and their Pokémon, but the Reflect and Light Screen barriers shielded the Rockets from their attacks. While she knew that the Reflect and Light Screen barriers would only remain active for a limited amount of time, the Alakazams could constantly raise more barriers so she figured that she would have to take them down the old fashioned way and hope that one of the blasts managed to get through and take down one or both of the Alakazams. Fortunately, neither she nor Ash was confined to the rules of a League battle. The only issue would be getting Ash to assist her in the attack. "Everyone, focus your strongest attacks on the barriers now! We have to take them down before we can deal damage to Team Rocket!" she cried to her Pokémon.

Her Pokémon quickly complied, with Tyranitar and Garchomp targeting the Reflect with a Stone Edge attack and a Dragon Claw on the Reflect, while the rest used their strongest special attacks on the Light Screen. Without direction from Ash, Charizard joined Mia's Pokémon, unleashing a Blast Burn. His tail's flame grew to incredible size, becoming twice as large as before, and a stream of white-hot flame emerged from Charizard's mouth as it lashed out towards the Light Screen. The attacks splashed against the screen and the screen managed to hold for a few seconds. In that time, Team Rocket's Pokémon launched a counterattack, with a couple of Venomoths, light purple moth-like Pokémon, using Supersonic in an attempt to confuse the attacking Pokémon. The attack failed, though, and the Pokémon were unaffected. Mia offered a silent prayer of thanks that the Venomoth's Supersonic failed to confuse her Pokémon.

Several Rockets then focused their fire on Tyranitar and the other Pokémon attacking. Tyranitar took a blast of glowing blue plasma to the chest, but only suffered minor surface burns, shrugging off the attack, which would have burned a hole through the torso of a human. Charizard also took a plasma blast to the chest, but he, too, emerged with only minor damage. Gazing at the scene, though, Mia and her Pokémon noticed that so far, they were the only ones fighting back against the Rocket force, the others seemingly being frozen in shock or staying behind cover. Just before she began to wonder if Ash would be a good Champion, he quickly rushed to her, diving behind the table as a series of energy pulses followed towards him, missing him by inches.

Once he was safely behind cover, he called to Pikachu and Snorlax, "Pikachu, help Charizard and Mia's Special Attack Pokémon in taking out that Light Screen. Snorlax, you help out against that Reflect! Everyone else, once those barriers are down, cut loose!" He knew the risks to Charizard and Snorlax, but thought that their superior stamina and resistance to damage would allow them to survive at least one hit from the Rockets' weapons, as demonstrated by Charizard. Still, he hoped that they would not have to be put to the test with some of the Rockets' slugthrower weapons.

Mia could only smile as she saw her brother joining her in the fighting. Her faith in him was not misplaced. Perhaps he did have what it took to be not only a Champion, but also a hero. She quickly reached into her backpack and pulled out a few small throwing stars, gripping two of them while putting the others in her belt. She then focused intently on the Rockets and waited to see if the Reflect fell. Once it did, she intended to let them have it with a barrage of stars.

One Rocket, however, decided to try to take out Mia and the attacking Pokémon in one fell swoop before they could launch a successful counterattack, seeing that the other Pokémon and guests were still not fighting back. He pulled out an orange sphere that looked to be encased in a translucent membrane that Mia suspected was some sort of adhesive. She heard of these weapons before, known as Gooey Bombs, but was surprised to find that Team Rocket had access to them since they were not in widespread use by either Earth or the Galactic Federation. The Rocket gave Mia no time to question how Team Rocket had gotten one of these bombs as he tossed the orb directly towards Tyranitar, hoping to stick the bomb to the Rock/Dark-type and kill him, and hopefully several other Pokémon, in one blow. Mia, seeing the bomb arc through the air, called out to Starmie in warning. Starmie gave a cry of affirmation and used its psychic power to stop the bomb in midair before it could latch onto Tyranitar. Once it had control of the bomb, it psychically tossed the bomb back towards the Rockets in a high arc. She quickly noticed that the bomb did not touch the Reflect barrier and grinned. The bomb landed next to a couple of oblivious Rocket Grunts and flashed for a few moments before detonating in a blast of flame.

The bomb's explosion killed one of the Rockets immediately, and wounded another, who had just drawn out a fragmentation grenade to toss over to the two children who were still hiding behind cover. Just as he had pulled the pin, the sticky bomb had exploded, its detonation blast, sending him flying, with severe burns all around his body. The grenade left his fingers and after a few seconds and bounced on the floor for a couple of seconds before it, too, detonated. It exploded among a gathering of Rocket Grunts, either killing or severely wounding four of them, along with a Venomoth and a Zubat, a small gray bat-like Pokémon with no eyes. The Reflect screen proved to be the undoing of the two Alakazams as well since the shrapnel from the grenade bounced off of the Reflect screen and rebounded back onto the Pokémon, taking down the two Alakazams.

The Rockets still capable of fighting fell back a few feet upon seeing their support Pokémon and several of their comrades fall to their own grenades that were supposed to quickly finish off Mia, Ash, and several of their Pokémon. As if that were not bad enough, Tyranitar and Garchomp had managed to break through the Reflect barrier and charged towards the Rockets. A barrage of Stone Edge from Tyranitar took down a Rocket Grunt and three Zubats, inflicting severe injuries to all four enemies, whereas Garchomp used Dragon Claw to cut a Rocket Grunt and an Ekans, a purple snake-like Pokémon, in half. A second later, the remaining Light Screen fell and two more Rocket Grunts were felled by special attacks. One of them was electrocuted by a Thunderbolt unleashed by Pikachu, while Venusaur took down another Grunt, as well as a Drowzee with a barrage of Razor Leaf. Despite their survival, the Rockets were in no condition to fight. Mia then let loose against the remaining Grunts with barrage of throwing stars. Two Rockets took hits in the hands and chest and while the injuries inflicted by the stars were not fatal, or even all that serious, they were still painful and they dropped their weapons, unable to grip them through the pain. "Where are Double-Oh-Nine and Team Two?!" one of the few remaining Grunts cried. "We're gettin' annihilated here!"

As if on cue, an explosion sounded behind the remaining Rockets and another force of Rockets came surging through, this one being led by Domino. A series of Gooey Bombs arced through the air and landed among the guests and on the tables, sticking to whatever surface they made contact with, causing the guests to scatter. The bombs stuck to whatever surface they struck and after a few seconds, exploded. Pieces of metal were sent flying through the air as the bombs blew apart tables and gouged large holes in the floor. Fortunately, there were no casualties inflicted by the bombs.

Domino entered the room as the rest of the Grunts flooded in and unleashed their Pokémon upon Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Looking around, she saw ten Rocket Grunts lying on the floor either dead or severely enough injured so as to be unable to continue fighting. A few other Rockets were crawling away, having suffered minor to moderate injuries, but were still able to continue fighting if need be. So far, only Jessie, James, Meowth, Butch, and Cassidy had yet to come to harm among the humans. There were still a number of Pokémon that were still able to battle, but their numbers were quickly being whittled down. The twenty-three Rockets that had come to support the remaining members of Team One were a much-needed relief force for them. Still, they all knew that they would face a tough challenge, for the remaining guests that were Pokémon Trainers were gathering their Pokémon and preparing for a counterattack. To make matters more interesting, neither Lance, nor Cynthia, were present. Domino went over to Jessie, James, and Meowth and ordered, "You three go and keep a lookout to make sure that Leaf and Ash don't get any reinforcements."

"Right," the trio nodded as they departed from the battle.

Turning to Butch, Cassidy, and the remaining Rockets in Team One, she told them, "You all tell me the situation. Have you managed to hurt any of the enemy's Pokémon?"

"Yeah," Butch answered. "We managed score a to hit on Leaf's Tyranitar and Ash's Charizard with a couple of plasma blasts, but they didn't take much damage."

Domino nodded, grimacing to herself. Turning back to the rest of the force, she commanded, "Everyone, release your Pokémon and have them engage all of the enemy's Pokémon now! The rest of you go after Ash and Leaf directly! I want them dead!"

"Right," the Rocket Grunts answered. They drew out their Poké Balls and tossed them into the air. The balls then opened and released a series of Zubats, Golbats evolved forms of Zubat that had eyes and large faces; Crobats, the final evolution of Zubat that had four wings; Koffings, Weezings, evolved forms of Koffing that looked like two Koffings stuck together with a small round chamber behind them joined to each head by two tubes that looked like a Weezing head; Drowzees, a couple of Hypnos, and a Kadabra. Once the Rocket Pokémon were let out of their Poké Balls, Domino cried, "Attack! Kill all of the enemy Pokémon!"

The Rockets relayed the order to their Pokémon and the Pokémon immediately went on the attack against Ash and Mia's Pokémon. The Rockets directed their Pokémon to try to take advantage of any type advantages that they may have had over Ash and Mia's Pokémon, but that was made difficult due to the fact that most of the Rocket Pokémon had the Poison type, with only a few Psychic-types to back them up. Only Butch and Cassidy possessed Pokémon that were of another type, with them having a Charizard in addition to an Aggron, a large bipedal Pokémon with a black body with a thick hide, gray arm and leg bands, and a gray triceratops-like head with two horns sticking out with a helmet-like covering on the head that formed a third horn-like protrusion. Butch and Cassidy also let out their other Pokémon, consisting of Hypno, a Mightyena, a wolf-like Pokémon with black and gray fur; two Shedinjas, brown bug-like Pokémon that had three pairs of relatively short brown wings and a white halo on top of their heads; a Flygon, a green dragon-like Pokémon with two large red eyes and a long tail; a Mismagius, a dark purple Pokémon that floated in the air and resembled a ghostly witch wearing a large dark purple witch's hat; a Drapion, a large scorpion-like Pokémon with a segmented body with two segmented arm-like protrusions coming from its head; a Weavile, a dark purple and red bipedal cat-like Pokémon with vicious claws; a Nidoking, a large purple bipedal Pokémon with a cream-colored underbelly and a thick tail with numerous poisonous barbs on his head and back; and a Nidoqueen, a blue Pokémon that resembled Nidoking but had fewer poisonous barbs and the cream-colored underbelly only covered its breasts and lower abdomen.

Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon immediately joined the other Rockets' Pokémon in the fighting and were directed to seek out Pokémon that they had a type advantage against. Unfortunately, they quickly found that such a task was a lot more difficult than anticipated, for Mia's Pokémon worked quite well together, and Ash had _all_ of his Pokémon at the party. Despite the Rockets and their Pokémon outnumbering the guests, Ash, Mia, and all of their Pokémon, the superior strength and skill of Ash and Mia's Pokémon would make a huge difference.

A Team Rocket Golbat opened the battle by firing a Confuse Ray at Mia. Mia ducked and the six golden orbs of light sailed over her head. Jolteon was quick to counter with a Thunderbolt and the Golbat was immediately taken down with a single hit. Not too far away, Butch's Mightyena went straight for Ash, but was knocked away by his Sceptile, as it used Leaf Blade on the Pokémon, knocking it to the ground. Sceptile finished off the Pokémon with a volley of yellow seeds erupting from his mouth. Elsewhere, Ash's Charizard was engaged in a brawl with Butch and Cassidy's Charizard while their Aggron picked a fight with Mia's Tyranitar. Neither of Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon were faring particularly well in their fights as Ash's Charizard punched the Rockets' Charizard in the head, sending it reeling backwards. Charizard then rushed the Pokémon and grabbed its throat, biting and slashing at its head and body. Charizard then lifted his opponent into the air and threw him towards a Rocket Grunt that was close to the battle between Tyranitar and Aggron and was trying to take a shot at Tyranitar with a b-grade science fiction-looking gun. The enemy Charizard crashed into him, flattening the Rocket, only the Rocket's gun arm emerging from the underneath the Pokémon. Mia quickly rushed over and grabbed the gun from the dead Rocket as Tyranitar gave a roar of warning.

Suddenly, Mia and all friendly Pokémon rushed behind Tyranitar, with many Poison, Fire, Rock, and Electric-type Pokémon rising into the air or being carried by Flying-type Pokémon as he stomped on the ground, creating a massive series of tremors. The entire hall shook from the impact of Tyranitar's foot and any grounded Poison, Electric, Rock, and Fire-type Pokémon for Team Rocket suffered a great deal of damage from the Earthquake. The Earthquake finished off Charizard and Aggron, and dealt severe damage to Nidoqueen, Nidoking, and inflicted significant damage to any other grounded Rocket Pokémon. After the Earthquake's effects had subsided, the floating Pokémon and those being carried by Flying-type or flight capable Pokémon were either placed back down onto the ground or jumped down and continued the fighting against the Rockets.

In another corner of the room, Sceptile was dealing with Butch and Cassidy's Mismagius, having launched a Solar Beam at it. He finished it off with a Leaf Blade, charging the Pokémon and slashing it with a green scythe of energy extending from his arm. With Mismagius out of the way, he turned and unleashed a Leaf Storm at Butch's Hypno. The stream of leaves rocketed towards Hypno but the human-like Psychic-type was too slow to react and the leaves scored a direct hit on the Pokémon. The Leaf Storm was sufficient to take down the enemy Psychic-type in one hit. Not too far away, Ash and Mia's Venusaurs unleashed a volley of Razor Leaf towards a group of four Koffings and a Kadabra. The Rocket Pokémon were too slow to avoid the onslaught of the razor-sharp leaves, but the Poison-typing of the Koffings allowed them to survive with only moderate damage. The Kadabra, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. It took the full brunt of the attacks, which was made worse by the fact that both attacks scored critical hits on the Kadabra. The Psychic-type Pokémon fell to the hail of leaves, many of them cutting into its body, inflicting serious wounds upon it.

Closer to Ash, Butch and Cassidy's Nidoqueen and Nidoking rampaged towards Ash and preparing to use Superpower on him, but two streams of water emitted from Ash's Blastoise ended their charge, propelling them backwards and into two Rocket Grunts. The Grunts were forced into the wall, where they were flattened, with the Pokémon being rendered unconscious.

Back behind Ash and Mia, Ash's friends from his past adventures that were present emerged from their cover and decided that it was time to join the fight. They tossed their Poké Balls into the air and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

Their Poké Balls opened and a plethora of Pokémon emerged from their Poké Balls and immediately launched an assault on the Team Rocket Pokémon and Grunts. Team Rocket's Pokémon were caught off guard and over a dozen of them were felled in the first wave of attacks. A Blizzard of snowflakes emerged from the mouth of a tan cat-like Pokémon with a purple collar, and scored a direct hit on two Golbats and a four Rocket grunts. The Golbats sustained significant damage from the Blizzard attack while the Rockets were frozen solid. With the Rockets having been taken down, May's Pokémon were now free to focus on the remaining Pokémon of the felled Rockets. They used a variety of attacks to deal with the few remaining enemies. Once they were dealt with, they continued to search for more enemies, or allies who needed assistance against Team Rocket.

Not too far away, Dawn was assisting in the fighting when she commanded, "Pachirisu, Mamoswine, target the Zubats and Golbats now! Piplup, you go for the Rocket Grunts and the Drowzees! The rest of you, pick your targets and go!"

Her Pokémon obeyed and launched their assault on Team Rocket, supporting Ash and Mia in the fight, along with the other guests. Pachirisu unleashed a volley of blue lightning bolts that struck all nearby Zubats and Golbats, electricity arcing across their bodies as they gave cries of pain and then fell to the ground, unconscious. Mamoswine, assisted Pachirisu by unleashing a Blizzard attack on several other Zubats and Golbats, encasing them in ice. The attack also managed to reach a Rocket Grunt and encase him in ice as well. While Pachirisu and Mamoswine attacking the Zubats, Golbats, and a Rocket grunt, Piplup unleashed a Hydro Pump at a Rocket Grunt who had drawn a gun and was pointing it towards Dawn. The jet of water erupted from Piplup's beak and scored a direct hit on the Grunt, sending him flying into another grunt. The two struck the ground and gave a groan before they rose to target the small penguin-like Pokémon and his Trainer. Before they could fire, though, a blue energy beam struck the first Grunt in the arm that was holding the gun. Immediately upon the beam's impact, a sheet of ice formed over the Rocket's arm and expanded until the Rocket was fully encased in ice. The second Rocket dove away from the first, hoping to avoid the fate of his comrade, and right into a Fire Blast attack from Mia's Chandelure, instantly reducing him to ashes. Mia, holding the gun she had procured from one of the now deceased Rocket Grunts searched for another target, and found one in the form of a Kadabra. She opened fire with her and a blue beam of energy emerged from the barrel of the gun and lashed out at the Kadabra. The Kadabra was too slow in raising a Light Screen and the beam scored a direct hit. A plate of ice formed around the chest of the Kadabra and quickly expanded until it encased the entire Pokémon. After a few seconds, the Kadabra had been reduced to an ice statue.

From the rear lines, Domino watched in shock as her forces were being routed by Leaf, Ash, and the other Trainers at the party. She watched as May pointed towards a Drowzee and her Fire/Fighting type Pokémon, Blaziken, a bipedal rooster-like Pokémon that also looked to be humanoid, unleashed a strong Fire Punch on the Drowzee, the flaming fist striking the Drowzee squarely in the chest, sending it reeling backwards several feet. Blaziken finished off the Drowzee with a stream of flame emitted from its mouth. The flames washed over Drowzee and knocked it unconscious. Elsewhere, Tracey directed his Venonat, a purple furred bug-like Pokémon with red bug-like eyes; Azumarill, a blue and white ovoid mammalian Pokémon with long blue ears; and Scizor, a bipedal bug-like Pokémon with a red metallic exoskeleton and claws that resembled those of a crab against a group of Koffings and a Weezing.

Looking around the battlefield, so far, none of Leaf's, Ash's, or any of the guests' Pokémon had been killed, fainted, or seriously injured in the fighting. She soon saw another Rocket Grunt get frozen solid by a blast Mia's new freeze gun, and shattered by a punch from Tyranitar. Looking around, she saw that she only had eight Grunts that were still able to fight, not counting Jessie, James, and Meowth, who were currently on lookout duty to make sure that there was no surprise attack initiated against them from any other quarter. The last thing that Domino was worried about right now, though, was a surprise attack from Cynthia or Lance.

Seeing that the situation was rapidly deteriorating, she realized that she needed to do something, and fast. Otherwise, this battle would end in a slaughter that Team Rocket might never recover from, especially given the losses in the captures of the various Legendary Pokémon. Glancing around the battlefield, she noticed several of the cooks and other guests, likely family friends that were not Pokémon Trainers hiding behind the tables. Soon, she caught sight of Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum who was sitting next to him, taking cover behind the table, trying to stay out of the way of the fighting.

She looked over at them and saw her studying Ash carefully. She looked over at Ash and caught sight of Leaf looking back at the Delia and Professor Oak at regular intervals. It was obvious that Delia was important to Leaf, but Delia was focusing on Ash, despite the fact that he was merely directing his Pokémon in battle while still in cover, while Leaf was taking an active role in the fighting. She then noticed a faint resemblance between Delia and Leaf. Change the hair and eye color, and make Delia thirteen, and she would be dead ringer for Leaf. A sinister grin then crossed Domino's face. She had them. She could still salvage the situation and, while the losses sustained by Team Rocket would be heavy, she had a chance to kill the current and former World Pokémon League Champion and two Grand Festival winners.

As Mia and the others were focusing on dealing with the remaining grunts and their Pokémon, she quickly went over to Butch, Cassidy, and told them, "You two with me." Turning to two of the remaining Team Rocket Grunts, she ordered, "Cover us. We may have a way to end this fight in our favor."

"Yes ma'am," the Rockets replied as they fled from Domino and, drawing their guns, opened fire on Ash, Mia, and the Pokémon that were close to them, Charizard, Pikachu, and Tyranitar, quickly being joined by their Koffings, a Weezing, and a Drowzee, who also launched attacks on the Pokémon and Trainers. Bullets, balls of sludge, and psychic energy waves were unleashed towards the heroes, forcing them to take cover or risk severe injury. After the initial volley of attacks were finished, Mia, Charizard, Pikachu, and Tyranitar launched their counterattack. Charizard unleashed a massive stream of fire on the Weezing as it readied a Sludge Bomb. The fire ignited the sludge and the fire traveled back into Weezing's mouth, causing it to explode among the Rockets and the other Pokémon. The Weezing was rendered unconscious, with one of the Rocket Grunts being killed, and two Koffings also suffering severe damage. Pikachu's Thunderbolt barrage finished off the two Koffings while Tyranitar's Stone Edge knocked out the Drowzee. Mia finished the remaining Rocket Grunt with a blast from her freeze gun. Ash could only marvel as he saw Mia's affinity for combat firsthand and was surprised, and also a little concerned to see that she was not only good at fighting, but also seemed to enjoy it.

As Mia and the others were fighting, Domino, Butch, and Cassidy went over to Delia and Professor Oak, who were still hiding behind the table, not wanting to get involved in the fighting and become a liability. They ran up to Delia and Professor Oak and Domino grabbed Delia, pushing her to the her knees with Domino drawing a strange pistol with what looked to be two diodes on the end of a barrel, holding it to her head while Butch grabbed Professor Oak and Cassidy drew a regular gun and held it to his head. Looking out at the scene, Domino called out, "Ash, Leaf, surrender now!"

Ash and Mia looked around for a second, trying to determine where the voice was coming from and soon found Domino holding Delia by the neck, pressing a gun to her head, as well as Butch and Cassidy holding a gun to Professor Oak's head as well. "Surrender now, or your mother and Professor Oak die!" Domino declared.

"Mom!" both Ash and Mia cried out reflexively as they stared into their mother's eyes, the fear for their mother's safety evident on their face. Domino merely grinned sadistically as she stared back at them. Delia, meanwhile, forgot that she was being held captive and stared back at Mia, whose voice she had heard along with her son's, almost gasping when she heard their cry. "Mom?" she asked, wondering why Leaf was calling her 'Mom'. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to her of not only Mia, but also of her husband. There were still blanks, but she knew now that Mia was her daughter. She stared into the eyes of the girl that had become so close to her son and she suddenly realized why she was now so close to Ash.

While Domino had made her threat to Ash's mother, Dawn, May, and Tracey were about to order their Pokémon to attack Domino and the other Rockets when Ash stopped them, calling, "Don't. I've encountered Domino before. She doesn't make idle threats. Let us take the lead on this one!"

The others, seeing the situation, begrudgingly backed down and waited to see what Ash and Leaf would do. Despite how the battle had been going, and the fact that if the fighting continued, that Team Rocket would almost certainly lose, things looked bad now, for if they did continue to fight, the cost to Ash would be too high.

Domino looked down at Ash and Mia and, noticing Mia's reaction to the capture of Delia and gave a satisfied smile. "So, my suspicions about you two were correct," Domino commented. "You _are_ twins." She paused before turning to Ash and continuing, "And that means that _you_ are the one that we couldn't capture five years ago. Do you remember?"

Ash did not know what Domino was talking about, but he remembered her from an adventure he had in Johto with a Legendary Pokémon known as Mewtwo. She had been willing to kill clone babies to get Mewtwo to surrender to Team Rocket, so he knew that she would be more than willing to kill his mother if he did not comply with her demands.

After a few moments, Domino spoke once more. "It seems like you don't. Ah well, it doesn't really matter anyway. All that matters is that I have your mother and Professor Oak. If you surrender yourselves and your Pokémon, your mother and Professor Oak will live. If you don't, well, you know the rest," she said with a sadistic chuckle.

"No don't," Mia pleaded, but she knew that she could not risk prompting Domino to take drastic actions. Eventually, she dropped the freeze gun and turned back to her Pokémon, ordering, "Stand down."

Tyranitar, Venusaur, and the others gasped and looked back at her, their shock evident on their faces. They could scarcely believe what they had heard. They then focused back on the remaining members of Team Rocket and their Pokémon, ready for action.

"I mean it!" Mia yelled forcefully. "I won't risk letting Mom die! Now, stand down!"

Upon hearing the volume and the severity of her tone, her Pokémon eventually stood down and knelt down on the ground, those that had knees. As for Ash, he was already looking back at his Pokémon, shaking his head sadly, prompting them to stand down as well. As the Pokémon stood down, Domino gloated, cooing, "Good. Now, you may have extended Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak's lives a few more seconds…" she then grinned as she turned to Mia, continuing, "…but, unfortunately for you, you're about to…" but she never finished her sentence, for a green pulse of energy, accompanied by a popping sound, burned through Domino's head right between her eyes. Domino never knew what killed her, nor that she was in any danger. She merely dropped her gun and slumped over, releasing Delia from her grip, and fell to the floor, her eyes open and her sadistic grin still engraved on her face.

The death of Domino was the cue for everyone to start fighting once again. However, Ash, Mia, and their friends were faster to react than Team Rocket. Mia picked up her freeze gun and fired on a Rocket Grunt, the blue energy beam freezing him solid. Checking the energy level of the gun, she found that it was running low on power so she quickly went over to the corpse of Domino and grabbed her gun. Checking on Professor Oak, she saw him struggle against his captors and manage to break away for a second. Delia then rushed towards Professor Oak and lowered her shoulder as she barreled into Butch, knocking him off his feet, and into Cassidy. Both Rockets gave a cry as fell to the ground in a heap as Professor Oak and Delia ran for cover behind a table. One Rocket Grunt leveled a gun at the two adults, but another green laser blast struck him between the eyes, drilling a hole in the center of his head, and took him out. Mia glanced behind the Rockets and saw a figure off in the distance outside the hotel. She could not make out any identifying features to the figure, but it was clear that he was human, or at least humanoid. For a second, she wondered if it was her father. She did not dwell on the question, though, for there were still Team Rocket members left to deal with.

She turned and saw another Grunt focusing on her brother. She heard him yell, "Hey champ, time to end your short reign," as he leveled a futuristic looking gun at Ash. Mia opened fire on the Grunt, a blue blast of lightning emerging from her newly acquired weapon. The blast of lightning struck the Rocket in the back. His body spasmed upon taking the strike and he squeezed the trigger of his weapon, which issued a green pulse of energy that sailed well over Ash's head. The Rocket fell then fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Neither Mia, nor Ash, took the time to examine whether or not the Rocket had died. They merely realized that they needed to deal with the other Rockets as quickly as possible. Mia then went over to the fallen Rocket that had tried to shoot Ash and she took his Ray Gun, adding it to her collection.

Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy were slow to rise and rejoin the battle. They scanned the battlefield and watched another Rocket Grunt get taken down by a Thunderbolt launched by Pikachu. Taking out a small radio, Cassidy activated it and screamed over the din of the fighting, "Jessie, James, Meowth, get back into the hall right now! We need you!"

"But Domino ordered us to keep watch for any reinforcements," Jessie countered.

"Domino's dead!" Butch cried as another Rocket grunt was sent sailing over his head courtesy of a Hydro Pump unleashed by Ash's Blastoise. "We're hemorrhaging troops and Pokémon! We need you all in here now!"

"Right," they heard the voices of Jessie, James, and Meowth confirm.

Butch and Cassidy knew that the arrival of Jessie, James, and Meowth would likely not be enough to turn the tide, but if they could launch a surprise attack on the party, then they might get lucky and take down either Ash or Mia, making the mission not a complete failure. Still, they decided that it would be best to coordinate from the rear, considering that most of their Pokémon were out of action, or worse.

It did not take long for Jessie, James, and Meowth to enter the hall. Upon doing so, they gasped at the sight as they saw many Rocket Grunts and Pokémon lying on the floor, either unconscious or dead. They witnessed Mia's Garchomp quickly take down a Kadabra with a Dragon Claw attack, while Ash's Donphan used Stone Edge to take down a Crobat. They quickly deployed their Pokémon: Swoobat, a bat-like Pokémon that had a teal head, pink snout with heart-shaped nostrils, and pointed ears; Wobbuffet, a tall, light blue blob-like creature with a black tail with eye spots and flipper-like arms; Seviper, a pretty large snake-like Pokémon with two long red fangs, a black body with a variety of markings on its body, primarily yellow hexagon-shaped ones, a blade-like tail; and Yanmega, a large green dragonfly-like Pokémon with red eyes and red spots on all of its segments, for Jessie, while James released a Cofagrigus, a Pokémon that was a blue and yellow sarcophagus with red eyes and four black shadowy hands; a Mr. Mime, a Pokémon that resembled a mime with a round white body and a red spot in its middle, thin arms with white gloved hands with five fingers at the end, thin legs with shoes that curl back up at the end, and dark blue frizzy hair; and Carnivine, a green Venus Flytrap-like Pokémon that had leaf-like arms, and a red and green vines underneath it that fulfilled the purpose of legs that resembled tentacles.

Jessie and James's Pokémon all entered the fray and attempted to make a difference in the fighting, but their inclusion was too little, too late. Swoobat and Cofagrigus never had a chance to even do any fighting, for immediately upon their deployment, Mia identified them and targeted them with her freeze gun and lightning gun. A blue beam of freezing energy erupted from the gun and scored a direct hit on Swoobat as it was about to face off against Ash's Venusaur. Ice expanded from Swoobat's face and spread until the whole Pokémon was encased in ice. Swoobat then fell out of the air and to the ground where it miraculously did not shatter. Cofagrigus fared little better as it suffered a direct hit from Mia's new lightning gun, the bolt of lightning scoring a direct hit on its center of mass. The blast sent the sarcophagus-like Pokémon rocketing backwards and into the wall, where it collided with said wall, leaving a series of cracks in it, and slid to the ground, unconscious. Jessie's Seviper then entered the fray, launching a volley of small poisonous needles from its mouth directly at Mia. Mia dove out of the way of the needles, but the Pokémon was not finished. It quickly lunged for the girl, but Mia was too fast. She jumped over its lunge and landed directly on the Pokémon's back. She then performed a roundhouse kick to the Pokémon's head, knocking it to the ground. A shot from her freeze gun then froze the Pokémon solid, bringing a swift end to the fight. Jessie and James promptly recalled the defeated Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. Their expressions showed that they were beginning to realize just how badly the battle was going for them.

The rest of Jessie and James's Pokémon fared no better, each of them not only going up against superior Pokémon, but also against superior numbers. Mr. Mime and Carnivine both tried to take down Tyranitar, with Mr. Mime using psychic, with predictable results, and Carnivine fired a Bullet Seed spread that should have been super effective, due to Tyranitar's part Rock typing, but was next to useless due to the radical difference in strength between the two. Tyranitar used Pursuit on Mr. Mime and instantly appeared in front of the Psychic-type Pokémon and, with a single punch, sent him flying into the wall. Turning to Carnivine, a single Stone Edge barrage was enough to take down the Grass-type Pokémon. Yanmega was also quickly taken down by a single Flamethrower attack from Ash's Charizard, leaving only Wobbuffet standing.

Jessie and James knew that things were looking bad. Seeing Pokémon after Pokémon for Team Rocket fall, along with a few more Grunts, they knew that the mission was a failure. There was no way that they would be able to deal with Ash and Leaf. Things were about to get worse, for the roar of a Dragonite sounded as a Hyper Beam came blasting through the opening in the door and struck a Hypno directly in the back, knocking the Pokémon unconscious at the very least. The orange bipedal European dragon-like Pokémon flew through the entrance to the hall with Lance flying on top of it. Lance was quickly followed by a Garchomp, who took down a Koffing and a Weezing with a single Dragon Claw swipe. Following Garchomp was Cynthia. Things had just gone from bad to worse. One of the few remaining Grunts knew that there was no way that Team Rocket would be able to accomplish its objective. There was no need to waste more troops in a losing battle. Going to Jessie and James, who were standing near Butch and Cassidy, and were now the ranking Rocket Agents, he said, "Sir and ma'am, we have to retreat now!"

"What are you guys talkin' about?" Butch roared. "We have a mission to accomplish!"

"Butch, sir, Domino is dead," one of the few remaining Grunts blurted. "We also suffered heavy losses in the captures of the various Legendary Pokémon, and we're down to eight grunts with maybe two Pokémon per Grunt. We have to withdraw immediately!"

"He's right!" another Rocket agreed. "Leaf's too strong, has too many friends, and we've lost too many troops. We have to cut our losses and go!"

"We were given a mission and I intend to accomplish it!" Cassidy yelled, supporting Butch.

"With respect, sir and ma'am, we're getting slaughtered here!" another Rocket interrupted. "The boss needs troops, not rotting corpses."

Butch and Cassidy were about to disagree, but Jessie and James cut in, saying, "The grunts are right. We can't do anything more here. We must withdraw our forces at once."

"Are you serious?" Cassidy yelled to Jessie. "You're gonna go back to the boss and say that we didn't manage to take down a single enemy Trainer or Pokémon?"

"It's better than gettin' killed," Meowth retorted.

"I agree," James echoed.

"Then it's settled," Jessie declared. "As ranking Rocket Agent, I'm ordering all of our forces to pull out at once." She then called out to the rest of the Rockets, ordering, "All Team Rocket forces, withdraw at once!"

The remaining Rockets looked back at Jessie, scarcely believing that Jessie and James were now in charge of the mission. Still, they were glad that the new field commanders were giving the order to retreat, for they knew how dire the situation was. They had no problems recalling their Pokémon and retreating as quickly as possible.

As the Rockets were recalling their Pokémon, Mia pulled out some small tags and placed them on one of the retreating Rocket Grunts. One of the final Grunts, not realizing that he was tagged, drew out a smoke bomb and tossed it back towards Mia and her Pokémon. The bomb detonated and a large cloud of smoke erupted from the bomb upon its detonation. The cloud of smoke covered Mia and she closed her eyes and held her breath so as to not breathe in any of the cloud. While the smoke was obscuring the vision of the heroes, the remaining Team Rocket forces quickly fled from the hall and out of the hotel, not realizing that they had been tagged. Of the forty plus Team Rocket Grunts and Agents that had launched the attack on the party, only six managed to escape, not counting Jessie, James and Meowth.

Back at the hotel, Ash's Swellow and Staraptor used Gust to blow away the smoke and clear the area. Once the smoke dissipated, they found an empty hall, save for the grunts, both living and dead, and the Pokémon that had been defeated. Cynthia and Lance examined the scene and the blond haired woman said, "I'll call the police to pick up and detain the survivors." Turning to Mia, she asked, "Did you manage to tag the Rockets?"

Mia nodded, smiling, and pulled out a small handheld device which showed a map of the area. A small red dot appeared on the map and appeared to be moving. "You stay here and protect my mom and the others. I'm going to follow the Rockets and finish them off." With that, Mia rushed after the retreating Rockets.

Ash, having witnessed Mia going off in pursuit of the Team Rocket survivors and called out, "Wait!"

Mia did not stop as she jumped onto Garchomp and he rocketed into the air as she followed after Team Rocket. Before he went off to chase after her, he turned back to his mother and Professor Oak and told them, "I know there's a lot that needs to be said, and I will when I get back, but right now I have to go help Mia deal with Team Rocket once and for all."

As he went off to chase after Mia, Delia called out to him, "Be careful honey! Both of you," she added quietly. "And come back alive!"

He looked back at her and smiled. "Don't worry. We will," he assured her as he jumped onto Charizard's back, telling Charizard, "Go after Mia and Garchomp. We have to help her deal with Team Rocket."

Charizard gave a smile and a small rumble of satisfaction as he rocketed into the air and rushed off after Ash's sister.

Back at the hotel, as Lance and Cynthia were rounding up the last of the surviving Rockets, Ash's friends finished administering to their Pokémon's needs. Once they were finished, they began to line up and made their way towards the hotel's exit. They were not going let Ash and Mia face down Team Rocket all on their own. While they were taking care of their Pokémon, Delia made her way towards the exit. She was quickly noticed by Lance, who went over to her and asked, "Mrs. Ketchum, may I ask where you are going?"

"I'm going to help my children," she answered sternly.

"You alone?" he asked, his voice full of surprise. "But you don't have any Pokémon or weapons."

"She won't be going alone," May declared forcefully, joining her friend's mother.

"We'll go too," Dawn stated, stepping forward with May. They were soon joined by Tracey who echoed May and Dawn's sentiments. Ash's Pokémon that had not gone with him after the battle also stepped forward and stood next to Delia. In addition, Ash's mother stooped down and picked up a discarded weapon, a Ray Gun that must have been dropped during the battle by one of the Rocket grunts. She checked the weapon's power level and flicked the safety to on, then off again. It was obvious that this was not her first time around a firearm before.

Lance gave a kind smile. "Be careful, then," he cautioned. "As this battle indicated, this isn't the Team Rocket you're likely used to facing. These Rockets won't hold back against you because you are children. They'll kill you if they get the chance. Don't give them that chance."

"We won't," each of the kids and Delia said in unison.

With that, they proceeded to leave the hotel, Delia leading the way, followed by Ash's Gigalith, a large rock-like Pokémon, who listened for any sign of Ash. Once Gigalith managed to find him, it pointed straight ahead, indicating Ash's direction. The others then charged forward, knowing that Ash and Mia had a significant head start.

As soon as the others departed, Lance and Cynthia turned to each other and Lance said, "After the police arrive, we should report this attack back to Pokémon League Headquarters. The threat of Team Rocket needs to end, once and for all."

Cynthia nodded in agreement. They then waited for the police to arrive and take the Rockets into custody.

Meanwhile, not far away from the hotel, the man that had watched the battle between Ash and Mia, as well as had been spying on them as they went towards the hotel looked on in grim satisfaction, still holding the gray Ray Gun that he had used to take down Domino. He was no longer dressed in his usual red jacket and jeans, but wore a black suit over his body that looked to be a custom made Kevlar C and spider silk weave shirt and pants. He looked on as Ash, Mia, and the others finished the fight and forced the rest of the Rockets to retreat. He watched as Mia went off to follow the Rockets, and also saw Ash give chase as well. His eyes flashed in surprise and fear. This was not what he wanted. He had learned of Team Rocket's successful capture of several Legendary Pokémon and knew that Ash and Mia would be hard-pressed to fight them if they had to engage them in a battle. There were also the standard Grunts that still had to be dealt with, too.

He was about to put on a mask and go after them when he heard a familiar hum behind him. Turning around, he saw Ganondorf coming towards him. "What are you about to do?" the Gerudo King asked.

"I have to keep those kids away from Team Rocket," the man answered.

"Why?" Ganondorf retorted.

"Because it would interfere with our plans," came the response.

Ganondorf gave a laugh. "Actually no, it wouldn't," he stated. "Their attempt to take down Giovanni could turn out to be very useful."

"How? They can't take on a small army of Legendary Pokémon!"

"That's what their friends are for," Ganondorf laughed. "Which reminds me, I have to go now. I'll leave you to your mission." Before leaving, though, he finished, "One more thing, John."

"What is it?" John asked.

"I need to know that you have no attachments to anyone in this world."

John gave a grim look towards the Gerudo King. "Don't worry," he said coldly. "I have none."

Ganondorf gave one more laugh before he departed from John's presence. Once the Gerudo King had left, the human gritted his teeth and stood there. He had a mission to accomplish, but he knew that he needed to help out his children as well, for they would not stand a chance against an army of Legendary Pokémon, especially after already having had to fight an army of Rocker grunts and normal Pokémon. He took out a scanner and scanned the area to see if Ganondorf was still around, spying on him. Once he was sure that the Gerudo King was gone, he put on the mask and rushed after Ash and Mia in an attempt to stop them from falling into what could very well be Giovanni's trap. He did not notice his wife and his son's friends leave the hotel and rush off to support Ash and Mia.

Meanwhile, sitting inside the building in the small, deserted town, the mysterious figure had watched as Team Rocket had launched its failed attack on the hotel. He saw Domino die, as well as the Rockets get routed. Seeing Mia, then Ash, leave to pursue Team Rocket, and then have their friends follow after, he grinned. He knew that there was no way that Team Rocket would be able to emerge from this battle victoriously, despite the acquisition of numerous Legendary Pokémon. Ash and his friends simply had too many powerful Pokémon of their own. The Lake Trio might be troublesome, but Mia's Tyranitar and Ash's Greninja would be able to handle them due to their typing, and Ash had other Pokémon that could give Legendaries a fight.

This was the perfect scenario for him, for even with Giovanni's own arrangements, some of which the figure had made under the guise of being a Team Rocket Officer, unknown to Giovanni, there was no way that he would be able to hold off the coming onslaught without help. Even if the fleeing Rockets stood their ground and fought, they would at best slow down Ash and Mia, and eventually get overrun by their allies. Then there would be nothing standing between them and Giovanni. He grinned once more. It was time for him to go to work and stand at Giovanni's side. Suddenly, his cloak disappeared and in the place of the hooded figure was a tall man wearing a Team Rocket uniform. He was tall, and had brown hair and red eyes. Once everything was ready, he departed the building and headed towards Team Rocket Headquarters. Hopefully, with his help, Ash and his friends would be in grave danger. And then, there would only be one hope for them: the arrival of Mewtwo, one of two soldiers who had killed the mysterious figure's children. Soon, he would have his revenge.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Ash rode on Charizard's back as he rushed after his sister, showing no signs of slowing down or strain. Looking off into the distance, he could see the faint figure of Mia's Garchomp as it rocketed away from them. He looked into the sky and saw a flight of five jetpacks off in the distance. He figured that they had to belong to Team Rocket. Given his experiences, he knew that Jessie, James, and Meowth were flying three of them, and strongly suspected that Butch and Cassidy were flying the other two. However, he remembered that Mia had not tagged any of them, only managing to tag one of the four remaining grunts instead. He hoped that it would not turn out to be a mistake. Given how fast she and her Garchomp were traveling, though, he suspected that she would be able to keep up with the fleeing Rockets. Still, he did not want to waste time lagging behind. "Hurry up, Charizard," he spurred, strongly patting Charizard's neck. "We have to catch up to Mia before she's too far out of sight."

Charizard gave a shrug and a grunt as he flapped his wings and rocketed off even faster towards Mia.

Not too far ahead, Mia spurred her Garchomp to accelerate towards the Rockets as well. Looking behind her, she saw Ash slowly closing the gap. She gave a sad sigh as he began to approach. She knew that Ash would want to join, and that his help would be beneficial. The problem would be when she confronted Giovanni and/or any of the other Rocket Executives. She intended to eliminate Giovanni's threat any way she could, even if that meant using deadly force against him, something she knew that Ash would object to. She did not want him to see her darker side firsthand. Even more, though, she did not want to risk him getting captured, injured, or killed in the fighting. He was not used to fighting the real Team Rocket, only the Blunder Brigade, as she had heard Giovanni refer to Jessie, James, and Meowth before. Still, she knew that he would not shy away from helping her, so she had to make sure that she managed to find the Rocket base and hope that reinforcements would arrive quickly if things got out of hand. "Stay alert, Garchomp," she urged. "The closer we get to the Rocket base, the greater the chances are that we'll run into stronger resistance.

Garchomp nodded as it continued to fly forward. Garchomp looked back and grunted, as if asking whether or not it should attack any of the groups, particularly Butch and Cassidy or Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"No," Mia answered, shaking her head. "We need to track the Rockets back to their base. They'll do us no good dead just yet."

Garchomp nodded and continued to follow the Rockets, backing off a bit, though, as if to make it look like he was getting a little tired.

A few hundred yards ahead, the Rocket Brothers looked back and saw Mia catching up to them. Despite the fact that the distance between the two groups was closing, they noticed that neither Mia, nor Garchomp, were launching any attacks on them. Soon, they saw Mia and Garchomp back off a bit, almost as if they did not want to be too close, but not too far away to trace them, either. "Blast it," one of the Rocket Brothers seethed. They knew that something was wrong. Pushing the buttons on small devices on the collars of their shirts, they reported to the other two fleeing teams, "Jessie, James, Butch, Cassidy, we've got a problem. We're bein' chased by Leaf, but she's not attacking. I think she's tryin' to follow us back to base."

"We hear you loud'n'clear," Cassidy responded over the speakers. Looking down at the scene, and back at her pursuers, she confirmed that Mia was making no attempts to attack. Instead, she seemed to be backing off a little, wanting to make sure that they did not notice her attempts to follow them.

Jessie and James also stopped to take a look at the scene. "Looks like you're right." The trio continued to observe Mia and informed the Rocket Brothers, "She's backing off," when Mia held back so as to get some distance between the two groups. "What do you want us to do?"

"How are your Pokémon?" one of the Brothers asked.

"Not good, why?" Cassidy asked.

"Because we've gotta get back to base and warn Giovanni that Leaf's almost certainly comin' to get him," the leader of the Brothers explained. "But if we're followed, then Leaf'll be able to relay the base's location back to the others and they'll be able to launch a coordinated attack against us. You've gotta hold them off for a bit while we make the escape and warn Giovanni to get out of there. Our radios were destroyed in the fighting at the hotel so we can't talk to him by radio."

"Are you serious?" Cassidy blurted. "Flygon's about all we have left that's in fighting condition! He's no match for either of the kids. We have a few Revives for some of the others, but I wouldn't put money on them being able to stop Ash or Leaf."

"Let us report back to da boss," Meowth volunteered.

"What?" the Rocket Brothers blurted. "Why you?"

"Because we don't have any Pokémon on us still able to fight," James answered in sagely. "All we have is Wobbuffet and Meowth, none of which are going to be of any use against the twerp or twerpette."

The Rocket Brothers grunted. They did not like the situation at all. They suspected that one of their teams had been tagged with a tracking device of some sort, but they did not know which one it was. They doubted that it was Jessie and James, for they had entered the battle in the hotel late and had not fought Ash and Mia before they ordered the retreat. Besides, they wanted Jessie and James to explain why the retreat order was given, despite the fact that it had been a good decision at the time. Eventually, the Rocket Brothers' leader suggested, "Jessie, James, Meowth, you all head back to base as fast as possible and alert Giovanni to the situation. We've got some Pokémon to slow down Ash and Leaf, but we won't last long powerful Pokémon like theirs."

"We'll stay with you and fight, too," Cassidy said for both herself and Butch, which drew a gasp from her teammate.

"We will?" Butch blurted.

"Yes," Cassidy replied. "I've got some Max Revives for our Pokémon. Besides, we still have other options," she added with a sinister grin.

Butch then grinned. "I forgot," he said, echoing her dark tone.

"Yeah," Cassidy continued. "Besides, I want another shot at killing Leaf."

"It's settled, then," the Rocket Brothers said. "Jessie, James, Meowth, we know that with the death of Domino, you're in charge right now, but you're also the best bet to relay what happened back to Giovanni and to tell him to prepare to evacuate the base. We'll stay back and try to hold off Leaf and Ash."

"Right," came the response from the trio. They then accelerated and were soon out of sight as Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers stopped and turned, facing back towards Ash and Mia, who were fast approaching.

As soon as they stopped, Butch and Cassidy landed and let out their stronger Pokémon, Hypno, Charizard, Aggron, and Mismagius and used their Max Revives to revive them. Once the potions were administered, the Pokémon sprang up and looked around, wondering what was going on. Seeing the two young teens and their Pokémon coming towards them, Butch and Cassidy explained the situation. "Those two teens are not to pass us. We're here to stop them and, if possible, kill them. Do you understand?"

The Pokémon nodded, each of them grinning sadistically.

"Okay then, go!" the two Rockets commanded. With that, the Pokémon launched themselves towards Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon.

Ash and Mia had been hanging back so they could allow the Rockets to escape and lead them to Team Rocket's base, but they soon slowed down. Mia looked up and saw that Butch and Cassidy had also slowed down and seemed to be planning something while Jessie, James, and Meowth accelerated off into the distance. Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers, though, came to a halt and turned around. She grimaced as the Rocket Brothers turned and she realized that they may have spotted her tracking device. She told Garchomp, "Garchomp, use Earthquake when we get close. After that, use Dragon Claw to take down Charizard."

Garchomp nodded and gave a grunt of confirmation. He then charged towards the Rockets, who were regrouping. As soon as they neared the Rockets, Garchomp stomped on the ground. The ground shook and large cracks began to appear. The Rocket Brothers lost their balance before they could even release any of their Pokémon and they fell to the ground, their Poké Balls knocked from their belts. A few of the balls opened and an Alakazam, Drowzee, Koffing, Crobat, Mightyena, and a Machop, a bluish-gray skinned humanoid Pokémon with a muscled body that resembled a human child in passing emerged from the Poké Balls. While they had been emerging, though, the Earthquake had knocked down Aggron and Hypno, though only Aggron had fainted. Charging towards Charizard, Garchomp slashed at the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon with Dragon Claw. Glowing claws raked the face of Charizard and the dragon was knocked to the ground, red streaks marring its face. Once they were knocked out of the way, Mia continued to chase down Jessie, James, and Meowth. It would take too long for the Pokémon to recover for them to be able to chase her down once more so she was not worried about having to face them. Besides, Ash could finish them off for her.

Not too far ahead, Jessie and James continued to head towards Team Rocket's headquarters, flying into a small town with a few tall buildings. Turning around, they saw that Mia was still in hot pursuit of them. "Great," Jessie seethed. "The newest twerpette has already caught up."

"We'll never get back to base without being followed," James said. "And we don't have the power to hold her off."

Seeing that there was nothing to lose, Jessie and James pulled out two Poké Balls and cried, "Wobbuffet go!"

"Mr. Mime, you go, too!" James cried, grimacing. He did not like sending out Mr. Mime to try to slow down Mia and Ash after the pounding he had taken at the hands of Mia's Tyranitar, but he knew that it was their only chance to slow them down.

"Get out there and slow down those twerps," Jessie commanded.

Wobbuffet gave a cry of affirmation and a salute as it turned to face down the onrushing Mia and Garchomp. Mr. Mime also joined them, and raised his hands as if he were creating a massive barrier. However, James issued no orders. Jessie, annoyed at how James's Mr. Mime was merely standing there, turned to her companion and demanded, "What the heck are you doing? Tell Mr. Mime to raise a Reflect barrier at once! We can't let her follow us back to base!"

"But Mr. Mime won't survive the battle," James retorted. "Leaf and her Pokémon have used deadly force against us before and don't discriminate between human or Pokémon. It'll be suicide for him to fight her, especially with the damage he's already taken."

"Wobbuffet's also out there," Jessie countered desperately. "I know that chances are that they'll definitely lose, and possibly even die, but we have to do this. Leaf's too strong and she's beaten the boss before on numerous occasions. We can't let her get the chance to do so again!"

Both Rockets turned to see Garchomp barreling straight towards them when the Pokémon suddenly stopped in its tracks as if it had just run into a wall. The Rocket Trio gasped at the sight and, upon further inspection, saw that it was not so much that Garchomp had run into a wall, it was that Garchomp was being pulled away from Team Rocket. Looking past the Mach Pokémon, the trio saw Mismagius, its eyes glowing. "Go," the Rocket Brothers cried out. "Get out of here! We'll deal with Leaf!"

"Right," the trio responded in unison. They then activated their jetpacks once more and rocketed off into the air, but not before Mia had Garchomp launch a Hyper Beam towards them. The red and white energy beam struck the ground close to the trio just as they were taking off and threw up a cloud of dust.

While they were obscured, Mia let Chandelure out of its Poké Ball and whispered, "Telepathically lock onto the minds of the Rocket Trio. Once we get past the Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy, we'll follow them."

Chandelure bobbed up and down as if affirming her order. She then turned to face down the Mismagius that had stopped her from following the Rockets and unclipped the rest of her Poké Balls from her belt. Tossing them into the air, she cried, "Come out everyone! It's time!"

All of her remaining Poké Balls opened in midair and released the rest of her Pokémon, each of them landing on the ground with a thud.

Butch, Cassidy, rocketed towards the fray, the rest of their Pokémon joining them, and they commanded, "Everyone, attack Leaf and her Pokémon! Hold nothing back!"

Charizard was the first to attack by launching a vicious Fire Blast towards Venusaur. The human-shaped blast of fire rocketed towards the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon, but never reached its target, for a stream of water launched from Starmie extinguished the flame in an instant, creating an intense burst of steam, obscuring both parties, each team halting their attacks for the time being. It was then that the Psychic-types of both parties linked their minds to their comrades so they could see through the steam. Unfortunately, Starmie was unable to link its mind with Tyranitar due to his part Dark typing, giving Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon a temporary advantage. However, Hypno could not sense Tyranitar, either, and the Rock/Dark-type had acute senses that allowed it to spot the enemy Hypno.

Both teams opened the real fighting with sleep-inducing attacks. Butch yelled over to Hypno, "Hypno, use Hypnosis!"

Hypno nodded, saying, "Hypno," in confirmation as it began to wave its pendulum. However, Venusaur, both being faster than Hypno naturally, as well as not being bogged down by having to wait for Mia to issue a command, unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder first. The greater effectiveness of the Sleep Powder cloud allowed it to cover Hypno before it could complete its attempt to hypnotize Venusaur and the Psychic-type Pokémon fell asleep, curling up on the ground and snoring. With Hypno down for a while, Tyranitar focused on dealing with Charizard before it could launch another Fire Blast Venusaur's way. Circles of stones surrounded Tyranitar as Charizard reared back to launch another Fire Blast. Once the stones had formed, Tyranitar launched them towards Charizard just as the dragon had unleashed its Fire Blast. The stones collided with the Fire Blast, turning red from the heat of the flames, but they did not melt and managed to push their way through the flame, eventually extinguishing it before rocketing on towards the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. The rocks scored direct hits on the already hurting Charizard and were too much for him to handle. After the first few rocks, Charizard had already been knocked unconscious. The remaining rocks had been insurance, just to make sure that Charizard did not rise anytime soon and try to continue the fight.

With Charizard having been dealt with, only Mismagius was still able to fight, and it had been focused solely on preventing Mia from being able to leave the fight. Mia knew that Chandelure would be the best opponent for Mismagius, since both were Ghost-types and Chandelure had access to not only Shadow Ball, but other techniques that could make life difficult for Mismagius, not to mention its evasiveness. However, she also did not want to risk Chandelure against Mismagius on the off chance that Mismagius could be stronger than initially believed, or receive backup and take down the only Pokémon tracking down the fleeing Rocket Trio. Besides, there were other options.

Tyranitar quickly stepped forward and charged towards Mismagius, his mouth wide open in preparation for Crunch. Mismagius attempted to stall Tyranitar by launching a Shadow Ball, but once the purple orb of energy was launched, Tyranitar batted it away with a single sweep of his arm. Mismagius then floated into the air, above Tyranitar's reach and fired another Shadow Ball at the Armor Pokémon. This Shadow Ball scored a direct hit on Tyranitar, creating an explosion and a cloud of smoke, but only inflicted minimal damage. Tyranitar countered with another Stone Edge attack, forming multiple stones around his body. He then launched them at Mismagius at virtually point blank range. The Ghost-type never had a chance. Rock after rock struck Mismagius, inflicting a great deal of damage on it. This was quickly followed by a Thunderbolt attack launched by Jolteon. The two attacks were more than Mismagius could handle and the Ghost-type Pokémon fainted.

During the brief skirmish between Mismagius and Tyranitar and Jolteon, though, Butch and Cassidy quickly realized that they were not going to be able to stop Mia from leaving once Mismagius was overpowered. However, they still had a few options left to them. They pushed a button on the backs of their jetpacks and two small wings immediately deployed from each pack. On the two small wings were two small gray missiles per wing. Despite their small size, each missile had enough power to destroy an Earth main battle tank with a single hit. They were extremely valuable missiles and Team Rocket had very few such weapons. The two Rocket Agents quickly locked onto Mia and Butch gave a snort. "I don't know why we didn't do this in the first place," he said nonchalantly as he pushed the fire buttons on his jetpack's controls and unleashed two missiles down towards Mia.

"I hear you," came Cassidy's reply as she, too, fired two of her missiles down at the teenage girl. Mia heard the sound of the rockets coming towards her and looked up, noticing the missiles zeroing in on her. She turned to flee so as to try to escape their blast, but would not need to, for a stream of fire soon came from her left and intercepted the missiles. The flames melted their hulls and caused them to explode in midair. Mia looked over and saw Ash riding his Charizard, being followed by several of his Pokémon. Mia gave a nod and then turned back to the Rockets.

While Mia had turned to see Ash and his Pokémon approach the scene, Starmie had quickly used Psychic to catch the shrapnel produced by the missiles, protecting Ash and Mia in the process, and launch it back at Butch and Cassidy. The shards of metal rocketed their way, forcing them to turn and flee, only for them to suffer hits to their jetpacks. Electricity sparked from the impact points of the impacts as the metal was imbedded in the packs and several small explosions sounded, as well as several clouds of smoke forming. As for the two Rockets, they were sent plummeting to the ground, screaming. Before they hit, though, a blue field of energy surrounded them, breaking their fall. They were then gently lowered down to the ground, where they landed softly and were still alive and in one piece. Looking behind them, they saw the Rocket Brothers rushing towards them, an Alakazam out and ready for battle. Tyranitar, however, quickly went to engage the new Pokémon and rushed towards it using Pursuit. He quickly arrived at the Psychic-type Pokémon and barreled into it, knocking it to the ground. Tyranitar then leaned down, opened its mouth, and then bit down on Alakazam's head. His single Crunch attack was sufficient to render Alakazam unconscious.

The Rocket Brothers, shocked at how quickly Alakazam had been dealt with, grabbed their Poké Balls and prepared to hurl them into the air in order to deploy their forces when they heard a cry, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Rockets!"

A bolt of lightning instantly fell among the Brothers and electrocuted them. Electricity arced across their bodies and they cried out as they were hit. After a few seconds, the lightning bolt ceased and they fell to the ground, paralyzed, for the moment, and unconscious, but still alive. Butch and Cassidy turned to see Ash standing next to Charizard; Pikachu perched on his shoulder, his cheeks crackling with electricity. The Rockets, knowing what was about to happen, locked onto the boy and his Pokémon with the remaining missiles on their jetpacks, but a second Thunderbolt from Pikachu quickly put an end to their hopes of taking him down. The Rockets cried out as electricity played across their bodies and after the bolt was cut off, the two Rocket Agents fell to the ground, unconscious.

With Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers defeated, Ash looked over at Pikachu and Charizard and congratulated them, exclaiming, "Awesome job you two."

Pikachu and Charizard gave Ash big smiles in return. He then turned to see Mia drawing the Ray Gun that she had taken from one of the fallen Team Rocket members and went over to the fallen Butch. She checked the gun to make sure that the safety was off and, seeing that it was, she then checked to see if it had more than one setting. Satisfied that it only had one setting, _kill_ , she took aim at Butch. She did not smile or make any witty remarks as she began to pull the trigger. Realizing that Mia was about to kill a defenseless Rocket, Ash ran over to stop her from killing him, yelling, "Wait!" Before the Ray Gun went off, though, Ash had managed to reach her and push her hand away from Butch just as the gun discharged, a green pulse of energy emerging from the barrel and gouging a hole in the ground next to the fallen Rocket, missing him by inches.

Slowly turning her head towards Ash, Mia seethed. Ash could see her barely contained rage in her eyes. "What do you think you're doing, Ash?" she demanded in a low, cold voice.

"You were about to kill him!" Ash blurted in response.

"Yes," Mia answered, nodding. "So?"

Ash's eyes went wide with shock at her statement. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "So? What do you mean by 'so'? You were about to kill him!"

"He wouldn't have been the first," Mia responded in a dark tone. "But hopefully these would be the last," she continued, motioning towards the other fallen Rockets.

Ash began to be scared for his sister now. He could not believe what she was saying. "You would have killed all of the Rockets like this? I could see it if this was in the heat of battle, but this? This would be murder! You would kill them like this?"

"Yes," Mia declared. "This is war! They are the enemy and have already tried to kill us. They won't stop. They know who we are. They know who our family and friends are. It's likely that they know where we live, as well." Approaching her brother and grasping him by the shoulders, she continued, "Ash, Team Rocket isn't like the other villainous teams that you and others have encountered in the past, save for maybe Team Galactic and Team Flare. Team Rocket is evil, pure evil! They don't sugarcoat what they do and say that they're trying to make the world or universe better, like Teams Aqua, Magma, and even teams like Team Galactic and Team Flare to a lesser extent. They don't consist of a group of misguided people that are led by a single evil person. They _are_ evil, pure evil! They've killed sentients, humans and Pokémon alike. They are murderers. I'm dealing with them now so that we won't have to worry about them later."

"There has to be another way," Ash countered, almost pleading with his sister.

"Do you have any handcuffs?" Mia asked harshly. "Do you have rope? Do you have anything with which we can confine these Rockets? Do you have a phone with which to contact the police?"

Ash shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Mia retorted. "Team Rocket are monsters. They are led by monsters. Their Pokémon are monsters. Don't let the Failure Trio that you so often go up against fool you. They are _not_ representative of the real Team Rocket. Giovanni, Domino, Butch, Cassidy, etcetera; _they_ are the real Team Rocket."

"But we can't just decide when and how to end their lives," Ash protested.

"I don't want to kill them either," Mia almost yelled back. "But the thing is that they are a danger, not only to us, but to our friends and family, too. That Thunderbolt that Pikachu used on them will wear off not too long from now. What happens once they regain consciousness? Will they come after us and force us to check our backs constantly as we go after the rest of Team Rocket? Will they try to launch another attack on the hotel? Will they simply go to one of the other hideouts and plan an attack on our homes, our friends, our family, as well as the families of our friends? Did you think about that?"

Ash glanced down at the ground gloomily and shook his head. "I didn't think so," he heard her say. Ash gritted his teeth. Mia was right in one sense. The Rockets were still a threat. The two of them had nothing with which to neutralize them non-lethally. Sleep Powder or knocking them unconscious would only work for so long. After that, they would be awake and ready to go. If they simply let out all of the Rockets' Pokémon in order to knock them out, their own Pokémon would get tired from all of the fighting, and while none of their Pokémon would object to doing so, they wanted to save their Pokémon for the real battles. Still, Ash couldn't bring himself to kill the Rockets, or let Mia do it, either. A solution then came to his mind.

"Mia, I have an idea," he told her as he went over to one of the Rocket Brothers. Stooping over the fallen Pokémon, he grabbed the Poké Ball.

"Be careful," Mia warned. "Many of Team Rocket's Pokémon are willing participants in their crimes and join them voluntarily."

Ash slumped over and gave a sigh at his sister's warning. His plan had been to simply release all of the Pokémon under the control of the Rockets. If what Mia said was true, though, then that would do them little good, for the Pokémon would continue to serve them, whether they were released or not.

"I just can't kill them," Ash roared in response. "Not like this!" He tried to think of what he could do so as to not kill the Rockets, or their Pokémon, but still be able to neutralize their threat. His eyes then flashed as an idea came to mind. He quickly went over to the Rocket Brother once more and gathered his Poké Balls. It was not perfect, but it was the best he could think of at the moment. "Mia, come on and help me get their Poké Balls," he directed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, wondering what his plan would be.

"If we don't kill them, then we can just remove what makes them so dangerous," Ash answered. "We take their Poké Balls and hide them."

Mia looked at him skeptically. "And when they wake up?"

"They'll still have to search for their Poké Balls," he answered. "Besides, we can call the police on them. We'll use Venusaur's Sleep Powder to keep them asleep. That should keep them down until the police arrive."

Mia was a little surprised at how decent the plan sounded. It actually had a fair chance of success, easily enough for her to be willing to entertain the idea. Still, there were flaws, which quickly came to mind. If the police were corrupt or on the payroll of Team Rocket, if the Rockets' Pokémon broke free of their Poké Balls, if the police took to long to arrive, etcetera, the Rockets would still be able to escape. Despite these issues that she had with the plan, she did not want to fight Ash over this anymore, so she acquiesced to his desires and said, "Fine, we'll do it your way. But if things go wrong and this comes back to bite us, and our family and friends, I'm holding _you_ responsible," she warned. She then contacted the police and informed them of the situation. Once she had given them all of the information needed, she went over to her brother and helped him gather all of the Rockets' Poké Balls. As they were gathering the Poké Balls, though, the Rockets suddenly awakened and their Poké Balls all opened, revealing their Pokémon.

Butch, who was close to Ash, performed a leg sweep and swept Ash off his feet, knocking him to the ground. Cassidy tried to do the same to Mia, but she was too quick for the Rocket and she avoided the sweep. She drew her lightning gun and took aim at Butch before he could order his Pokémon to attack. However, the lightning blast was intercepted by Sandslash, a yellowish tan bipedal rodent-like Pokémon with large brown quills sticking from its back, and the blast merely pushed the Pokémon back a few feet. Mia grunted. She had not expected a Ground-type Pokémon to actually be able to take a direct hit from a weapon like a lightning gun the way it had. Still, Butch had reflexively dove away from the blast, allowing Ash to rise.

"You should have let her kill us," Butch sneered as he formed up with Cassidy and the others, who had already risen, apparently no longer suffering from the effects of Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

Once Ash rose, he yelled over to Mia, "Go! Follow Team Rocket! I'll hold back the others!"

Mia was unable to hide her shock. "What? They greatly outnumber you!" she countered.

Ash merely grinned. "I can handle it," he assured her. "Just go and take down Team Rocket, once and for all. I'll keep these guys busy here."

The twin bond between the two then flared and Mia knew that Ash believed that he was able to hold off the six Rockets, as well as all of their Pokémon. She was still skeptical, but she knew that she would not get another chance. She did not want to leave, but Ash insisted, "Go. Take them down. I'll be right behind you. Think of this as my first test as the World Pokémon League Champion," he added humorously.

At first, Mia gritted her teeth in defiance, but seeing the resolve on her brother's face, as well as the faces of Pikachu and Charizard, she figured that he might actually be able to do it. Still, she was not ready to abandon Ash to face down Team Rocket all alone. As such, she went over to his side and said, "Sorry, I'm not ready to leave this fight just yet."

Ash could only grin as they assumed a fighter's stance and faced down Team Rocket. Just as the battle was beginning again, the Rocket Brothers began to stir. They partially rose and saw Butch and Cassidy engaging Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon, the two Rockets giving ground as they struggled to face down the two champions arrayed against them. Seeing that if they did not join the fight that Butch and Cassidy would surely fall, they soon rose and grinned at the two children, yelling, "Hey kids, looks like the game's about to take a turn for the worst for you."

The four Rockets then revealed secret Poké Balls from up their sleeves and caused them to grow. Ash gave a confident grin as he saw the Rocket Brothers prepare to release their Pokémon. Pointing to the other Rockets, the two kids looked back at their Pokémon and cried, "Go!" With that, the two sides rushed each other and the battle began again.

Meanwhile, over at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, waiting for any information on the outcome of the attack on the hotel. So far, he had heard nothing from the assault force. The teams that had captured the Legendary Pokémon had already returned and given him the Pokémon. He had transferred them to a case on the wall with numerous security protocols before he would gain access to them. Persian looked up at him, wanting to be scratched behind the ears, but Giovanni was distracted from the lack of news. Seeing that it would get little satisfaction from its master, Persian went over to curl up in a corner and lick its paws. Soon, there was a knocking at the office door, causing Giovanni to become more alert.

"Enter," he bellowed.

The door opened and his secretary appeared in the doorway. She stepped through and bowed "Forgive me, sir, but Jessie, James, and Meowth wish to make their report."

"Send them in," he ordered.

She nodded and stepped aside, allowing the trio to enter. The trio entered, doing their best to look normal, but Giovanni could tell that there was an edge to them. They approached his desk and stopped, bowing. "What's your report? How did the attack on the hotel go?"

"The attack on the hotel was a failure," Jessie replied. "Only ourselves, Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Brothers managed to escape the hotel. Everyone else was either captured or killed. Domino was among the fatalities."

Giovanni's eyes flashed with shock. "Domino's dead? How?"

"We don't know," Jessie answered. "She had ordered us to go on lookout so that hotel security or any other Pokémon Trainers or Champions would not have entered into the fight without warning. We were called away from our assignment after she was killed and arrived near the end of the battle. As the battle wore on, Lance and Cynthia joined the fight and we suffered even more losses and the situation was untenable, so I ordered a retreat. However, we were pursued by the twerp and Leaf."

"Twerp?" Giovanni asked, not having the same history with Ash that Jessie, James, and Meowth did.

"The new Champion, Ash Ketchum," James answered for Jessie.

"I see," Giovanni replied, nodding absently.

"We managed ta escape, but I think we may have been followed," Meowth reported. "Leaf's a strong Trainer, so she may have been able ta track us, ta say nuthin' of da twerp."

"We must assume that one or both of them were able to follow you and that we have been found," Giovanni stated.

"Should I begin ordering the evacuation of the base, sir?" Matori asked.

"No," he answered. "We can still make a stand. Have everyone get to their defensive positions and prepare for attack. Tell them to deploy their Pokémon as well. Give the Legendaries to Security, Gideon, and Dr. Zager. They'll be necessary should Leaf manage to break through our defenses. However, I don't want it to come to that. I want her to be dealt with the moment she is spotted."

"Understood," his secretary answered. She then left Giovanni and the trio alone.

"What about the Rocket Brothers?" Jessie asked, making sure to ignore the fact that Butch and Cassidy were still out there with them.

"We need everyone here at their posts to deal with Leaf. She's the bigger concern. The Rocket Brothers will be fine on their own, for now," Giovanni answered. "Besides, chances are that they have Butch and Cassidy to help them and are dealing with one Trainer. They should at least be able to hold him back for a while."

"And what is our assignment?" Jessie asked.

"Remain outside my office," Giovanni directed. "You will provide the last line of defense should they get this far."

"Understood," Jessie, James, and Meowth answered, bowing before they departed. Giovanni gritted his teeth at their report. He had feared that the force that he had sent would not be sufficient, but he had not had time to call in extra support from the Johto Branch. He simply sat back in his chair and sighed. He then pushed a button on his desk, which opened the case on the wall. He looked over at the Poké Balls, wondering if he should deploy the Legendary Pokémon. He had intended to use them as a last resort if everything else had failed. However, things were going very badly. And he felt that it was better to have Leaf and Ash beaten far away from him. One thing he did not want was to simply hand out his Legendary Pokémon to officers like Butch and Cassidy. Despite seeming to be more competent than Jessie, James, and Meowth, they had their own share of failures. He would exhaust all options before resorting to using Legendaries to deal with Leaf.

He sat back anxiously in his chair, reaching into his desk and pulling out an old Earth gun, a slugthrower weapon, rather than the energy weapons that were currently often in use by Earth and other militaries. Pulling back on the barrel, he made certain that a round was already chambered. He then ejected the magazine to make sure that it was fully loaded. He wanted to be ready for when Mia and her Pokémon came knocking. Giovanni then looked over the reports on the Legendary Pokémon that Team Rocket had obtained. He then pushed a button and bellowed, "Gideon, are you there?"

"I'm here," the scientist reported over the comm. "What may I do for you?"

"Is Genesect ready yet?"

"Not yet, sir," came the response. "Give me about an hour or so and it should be ready."

Giovanni seethed. "We don't have an hour!" he roared. "We're likely going to come under attack soon and I want to be prepared when we do."

"I can't afford to rush it, sir," Gideon insisted. "If we take Genesect out too soon, it will either not be anywhere close to full power, or uncontrollable, which would make matters even worse for us than they already are. An hour is the best I can do."

"Fine," the Rocket Boss growled. "Just tell me when it's ready. I need it as soon as possible."

"I will, sir," Gideon finished. With that, the channel was closed. Giovanni then sat back in his chair and waited, knowing that the inevitable was about to come.

As he sat, a chime sounded at his door. "Enter," Giovanni bellowed.

The door opened and a Rocket Officer stepped through the door. He had brown hair and red eyes, and he had an aura of power about him. Seeing the officer, Giovanni began by saying, "What is it Aizen?"

"Sir, I have heard of the reports of Leaf and her brother coming to us," he answered, bowing respectfully, but his smile indicated that there were ulterior motives. "If you want my advice, I think that you should send out your strongest forces to deal with them before they are on our doorstep. The longer they are allowed to fight, the greater the chances that they may find a way to reach you."

"And what would you have me do? Send out my Legendary Pokémon?"

Aizen nodded. "Yes. As of right now, Butch and Cassidy have their own Pokémon, as well as the Rocket Brothers backing them up. This would be a great opportunity to use some of our Legendaries, such as the Lake Guardians, to deal with them now, before they get past our agents and are able to fight each Legendary individually."

At first, Giovanni was going to scoff at his underling's suggestion, but upon thinking about it for a second, he realized the wisdom in Aizen's words. In the end, he told Aizen, "I'll take your suggestion under advisement. As for right now, go outside and stand guard outside my office. I'll contact you when I have further orders."

"Understood," Aizen replied, bowing. He then turned and departed. As he departed, he gave a subtle grin.

Just outside Giovanni's office, a mysterious new officer that they had not really noticed enter their boss's office joined Jessie and James. He wore the standard Team Rocket uniform, though his hat completely covered his ears, so as to not give away his true nature. His magic would allow his true nature to remain hidden from the base's sensors. His greater concern, though, was that there were several Psychic-type Pokémon inside the base that might have been able to give him away. At least with the suggestion he had given Giovanni, three of the stronger ones would be busy dealing with Ash and Mia. He would worry more about that when the time came, if it came. Right now, he had to make sure that Giovanni was properly protected from the others. After all, the only way he would get his revenge on his enemy would be to face off and threaten the lives of those his enemy cared about. He merely stood by Giovanni's office and waited for the attack to come. Looking at him, Jessie, James, and Meowth noted the new Rocket's arrival and, not recognizing him, asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Aizen," came the answer from the 'Rocket Officer'.

"And what are you doing here?" Jessie asked.

"I was ordered to help protect Giovanni," came the answer from the figure. "He _is_ the reason Leaf is coming here, is he not?"

The trio nodded. Aizen had to suppress his grin. He had heard that these three were not the brightest bulbs in the organization, but now he could tell with absolute certainty. He still smiled kindly for them and stood outside of the office with them. Still, his mind raced as his plans formed in his mind. Everything was falling into place.

Just outside of the small town where Team Rocket had established their new base, Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon were fighting the battle of their lives against the surviving Rockets from the attack on the hotel. The Rocket Brothers had quickly managed to find their Poké Balls and send out their Pokémon to assist Butch and Cassidy in the fight. A Kadabra that served one of the Rocket Brothers shoved its hand forward, sending Ash and Pikachu flying through the air. They flew directly into the stomach of Snorlax, who was barely fazed by the impact of the human and smaller Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu dove away as Snorlax opened his mouth and unleashed a Hyper Beam directly at Kadabra. Kadabra raised a Light Screen and intercepted the large Pokémon's Hyper Beam and the beam splashed against the shield, inflicting no harm on the Pokémon. Unfortunately, while Kadabra was focusing on Snorlax, Tyranitar stepped forward and used Stone Edge on the Psychic-type Pokémon. A barrage of stones assaulted the Pokémon, forcing it back with each hit. Once the barrage was finished, Kadabra was knocked unconscious.

After Kadabra fell, a Fearow, a mostly brown bird with a vulture-like neck and a long beak, dove towards Ash, a drill-like glow appearing over its beak, only to be shocked by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. The Fearow was the next to fall. Still, that left more than thirty Pokémon for Ash and his Pokémon to deal with. Charizard was currently fighting an Aggron and a Hitmonlee, a brown human and egg-shaped Pokémon with white segmented arms and legs. Charizard used Air Slash, a shuriken-like blade of wind was generated when Charizard flapped his wings to take down the Hitmonlee as it tried to perform a Hi Jump Kick on the dragon. Hitmonlee was sent flying back towards Aggron and it collided with the Pokémon. Aggron gave a roar and shoved the fallen Pokémon aside as it launched a Stone Edge towards Charizard. Blastoise intercepted the attack, though, with a Hydro Pump, allowing Charizard to dodge the remaining stones. Blastoise then turned towards Aggron and scored a direct hit on the Rocket Pokémon and sent it flying with the Hydro Pump.

Looking back towards Snorlax, a Hitmonchan, a tan human-shaped Pokémon with boxing gloves, and an Exeggutor, a coconut tree-like Pokémon with legs and three faces that resembled coconuts in passing, charged towards Snorlax, Hitmonchan throwing a punch towards the Pokémon. Snorlax use Curse to increase his attack and defense and threw an Ice Punch at the Fighting-type Hitmonchan. The Ice Punch scored a direct hit on Hitmonchan and sent the Pokémon flying through the air. The increased power of the attack was sufficient to knock Hitmonchan unconscious. Seeing that Snorlax had Ice Punch, Exeggutor wisely backed away as it prepared to cast Hypnosis on Snorlax. Its plans were quickly squashed when Chandelure unleashed a stream of fire on the Grass and Psychic-type Pokémon, taking it out.

Not too far away, Donphan and Sceptile were dealing with a Muk, a purple Pokémon that was made out of sludge and looked like a purple sludge monster that was mostly a head with eyes, mouth, and two arms, a Feraligatr, a blue bipedal alligator-like Pokémon, and a Machamp. Serperior immediately recognized the Muk, knowing its appearance from having met Ash's own Muk during the Elite Championship battles, and knew that she was at a disadvantage against it and went to deal with the Feraligatr and the Machamp while Donphan focused on the Muk. Sceptile backed away and conjured a tornado of leaves. Once the leaves had appeared, he launched them at Machamp and Feraligatr, letting Donphan deal with Muk. The first part of the leaf barrage scored a direct hit on Feraligatr, knocking the Pokémon back a few feet and to the ground, knocking the bipedal alligator unconscious. Machamp emerged from the attack still able to fight, but it sustained heavy damage from the attack. It, along with Muk, were soon taken down when Donphan stomped on the ground hard and used Earthquake. The ground shook violently and Charizard took to the air, carrying Ash and Pikachu while Sceptile jumped high into the air, able to resist the attack when he landed due to his Grass typing. Blastoise was far enough away to be able to avoid taking damage from the attack.

Despite the felling of several Pokémon, the Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy were far from defeated. The Rockets soon took matters into their own hands and pointed towards Ash and his Pokémon, yelling, "Everyone attack! Kill them!" To accentuate their orders, they drew their side arms and targeted Ash, wanting to make sure that at the very least, he was killed. They drew their Ray Guns and targeted Ash, only to have Pikachu retaliate with a Thunderbolt, striking all six Rockets, stunning them once more. Unfortunately, their Pokémon were still able to fight, and despite the losses that they had taken, they still outnumbered Ash and Mia's Pokémon by a large margin, which greatly surprised them since he and Mia had beaten their Pokémon numerous times before, even in this very battle.

Rhydon, Sableye, a purple humanoid Ghost-type Pokémon with diamonds for eyes and relatively long arms, and a Granbull, a pink bipedal bulldog-like Pokémon with two large fangs jutting up from its lower jaw, initiated an attack on Pikachu, Charizard, and Ash. Granbull leapt up to try to bite Ash in half, only to be knocked back by Pikachu's Thunderbolt and Charizard's Flamethrower. Rhydon and Sableye unleashed a Stone Edge and Shadow Ball on Charizard, Pikachu, and Ash in order to support Granbull. Pikachu attempted to counter with a Thunderbolt but the lightning was attracted to Rhydon's horn and was unable to strike Sableye. Fortunately, Charizard was able to fly over the attacks and both the Shadow Ball and Stone Edge barrage missed their marks. Charizard's retaliatory attack, however, did not, as he unleashed a Fire Blast on Sableye. The blast of flame struck the Dark/Ghost-type and sent him sailing backwards. Sableye hit the ground and skidded across the surface and came to a halt, unconscious. Still, they had to deal with Rhydon and, looking around at the rest of the scene, Ash knew that he was in a desperate situation since Team Rocket's Pokémon were swarming his.

Ash's Pokémon were spraying their attacks at the Rocket Pokémon but were at best only holding them off. It was also clear that the weight of all of the fighting was beginning to wear on his Pokémon as Blastoise and Snorlax took direct hits from two Crobats as they unleashed an Air Cutter barrage on them. A series of X-shaped blades of wind collided with the two Pokémon but, fortunately, did not score critical hits and did not inflict much damage to the Pokémon. Blastoise retaliated with an Ice Beam, which scored a direct hit on one of the Crobats and froze it solid. Snorlax counterattacked by throwing an Ice Punch directly towards the other Crobat, but the bat-like Pokémon flew straight up into the air and out of reach of Snorlax. It was quickly taken down, though, by a Stone Edge barrage from Tyranitar.

Not too far away, Sceptile was doing his best to hold off an assault by a Gengar, a Ghost/Poison-type Pokémon, a Weezing, and a Magnemite, a gray ball with a single eye and a screw at the top of its head with a magnet on either side of its body. Sceptile fired an Energy Ball at the Magnemite and managed to force it back, but its part Steel typing made it resistant to the attack and it was still able to fight. He was quickly supported by Donphan, but since the Pokémon they were facing could float, it would be a difficult battle since Donphan's Earthquake would be useless against them. They looked around to see if anyone else could help them, but they had their own issues as each of the other Pokémon was often double or even triple-teamed by the Team Rocket Pokémon.

He would not be without help for long, though, since a stream of fire soon struck Magnemite, taking it down with a single hit. Another Flamethrower soon hit Gengar and took it down, while a barrage of stones and a Leech Seed from Mia's Venusaur latched onto Weezing and drained it of its health. The Pokémon than went to make quick work of the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon.

As they were finishing off Butch and Cassidy's Pokémon, the two Rockets began to stir and awaken. Gazing around at the scene, they saw the Rocket Brothers lying on the ground, still unconscious. They saw their remaining Pokémon retreat away from the fighting in order to regroup and await the plan for the next attack. Unfortunately, though, it also gave Ash time to tend to his own Pokémon and restore them to full health and vitality. Not only that, but it also gave Mia a chance to push through and make her way into the town. She charged past them and they tried to intercept her, only to be stopped by Ash. "Go!" he cried over to her.

"What about you?" Mia cried in response.

"I'll hold up the Rockets here, allowing you to get past me and get a clear shot to their base. Just make sure you do something for me," he added.

"What?"

"Live."

Mia smiled. She looked over at her Pokémon, all of who were ready for battle, and then back at Ash. "You got it," she assured him with a smile. With that, she rushed forward, her Pokémon following her charge. As she charged, Butch and Cassidy did their best to stop her, but Ash barred their way, holding his hands out. His Pokémon then formed up around him, blocking their way. Butch and Cassidy scowled as they went to administer more potions to their Pokémon so they would have _some_ Pokémon to fight with. They knew that the best they would be able to do was to slow him down. But maybe, that would be enough.

Meanwhile, Mia and her Pokémon continued the charge into the town. So far, though, she had not encountered any sentries in the town, despite there being several places where an ambush could be launched. She was on edge as she went deeper into the town, knowing that there was no way that Giovanni would not leave any sentries to stop any intruders getting too close to his base. As such, she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of sentries. It did not take long for the sentries to show up, for a dozen Rockets emerged from the tops of buildings and watchtowers that were scattered all throughout the town. Each of the Rockets had six Pokémon with them, several of them being Alakazams and Hypnos. A part of her grinned. These were the sentries that she was waiting for. At least, she would be able to clear them for Ash.

Her Pokémon began the battle by unleashing a barrage of attacks on the enemy Pokémon, taking down a dozen of the enemy in the initial volley before they could even respond. Six of the Grunts were also felled by the attacks as Venusaur unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder on them and put them to sleep. Jolteon then fried two more Grunts with a Thunderbolt as Earthquakes from both Tyranitar and Garchomp took down more Pokémon.

Just as the battle seemed to be going Mia's way, though, her Poké Balls rose from her belt and red beams erupted from them. They reached out and recalled the Pokémon into their Poké Balls and fell to the ground. Looking ahead, Mia found an Alakazam, its eyes glowing. Mia quickly drew her Lightning Gun and opened fire on the Pokémon, firing a single energy blast at the Alakazam. The blast struck the Alakazam in the chest and felled the Pokémon, but did not kill it. She then took out her Lightning and fired two more shots, felling two more Rockets, leaving two guards left. As she turned to face them, though, she went to fire her Lightning Gun when it began to spark. Looking down at the charge indicator, she found that it was out of power. The two guards grinned and then tossed a single nut her way. The nut exploded in a blinding flash of light, which blinded her and disoriented her. They then produced a single orb and tossed it her way.

However, just as the orb was about to reach her, it was suspended in midair and it rocketed back towards the Rockets. The Rockets' eyes went wide with shock as they saw their own orb hurtling back towards them, the orb exploding and gas erupting from it. They immediately covered their mouths and nose, hoping to not breathe in the fumes. The chemical, however, activated on contact and as soon as it made contact with their skin, they were affected. They coughed a few times before falling to the ground, either unconscious or dead.

Not too far away, John, along with his Espeon, watched the scene as Mia began to recover her faculties as the effects of the Deku Nut wore off. He watched her look around and see that the two remaining Rockets had been dealt with. She then looked off into the distance, wondering who her mysterious benefactor was. He then watched as Mia let out her Garchomp once more and mounted the Land Shark Pokémon. He watched as she rocketed into the air and flew straight towards Team Rocket Headquarters. As she departed, a part of him wanted to go after her, while another part knew that his pursuit would draw undue attention towards her from Ganondorf, and if there was one thing he wanted it was to make sure that Ganondorf never got anywhere close to her. To that end, he decided to keep watch over the town to make sure that there were no more sentries to deal with. After all, it would not be long before Ash came through here too, in pursuit of Mia so he could fight by her side against Giovanni and the remains of Team Rocket.

Back outside the town, Ash made short work of Butch and Cassidy, easily dispatching the two Pokémon that they had managed to revive and send against him. Pikachu then shocked them, knocking them unconscious once more. The Rocket Brothers, seeing that they had no chance against Ash and his Pokémon, had wisely decided to retreat. Once the Rocket Brothers had begun their retreat, Ash mounted Charizard and continued on his quest towards Team Rocket Headquarters, Charizard rocketing into the air and taking off in the direction that Mia was headed. As he flew, he, told Charizard, "Come on Charizard, we have to help Mia! I won't let her fight Team Rocket alone."

The Fire/Flying-type Pokémon nodded and increased his speed as he flew he began searching for a small town, having the feeling that this was the direction Mia had gone. Seeing a small town not too far away, and sensing that Mia had passed this way, he pointed towards it and spurred Charizard towards it, crying, "There, that's our target!"

Charizard then dove towards the town, flying at great speed when suddenly, he heard the sound of a rocket off in the distance. Looking around, he soon saw a missile heading straight towards him and his Pokémon. "Break left!" he cried.

Charizard obeyed and banked to the left, allowing the missile to fly right by him. The missile began to loop around when it was shot out of the sky by Pikachu's Thunderbolt. "We have to get lower," Ash told Charizard. "The missiles seem to be heat-seeking and were likely fired from surface defense emplacements. We should go in low so we can more easily evade detection."

Charizard obeyed and he went lower, taking Ash and Pikachu down so that they were only a dozen feet or so above the ground. Once there, though, they soon encountered another problem. They quickly spotted a group of two Rockets, likely Butch and Cassidy, coming after them from the rear. Up ahead, he also saw four Rockets Grunts, likely the Rocket Brothers, running into the town. He tried to follow them, but Charizard was intercepted by two Fearows. Not only that, but two Alakazams also erected Light Screen and Reflect Barriers outside of the town's entrance, and were continuing to do so as the Fearow attacked.

The two bird Pokémon used Drill Peck and attempted to drill their beaks into Charizard, only for the Fire/Flying dragon to launch a Fire Blast at the lead Fearow. The human stick figure of fire struck the Fearow in the head and sent it crashing to the ground, where it hit and left a small groove in the ground as it skidded to a halt, unconscious. The second Fearow quickly attempted to avenge its partner when it rushed towards Charizard, attempting to use Aerial Ace. Charizard quickly intercepted it, though, and took it down with a single Flamethrower attack, sending it crashing to the ground, smoke trailing the Pokémon.

Once the Fearows had been dealt with, Charizard unleashed a blast of flame directly towards the gate to the small town. As the stream of flame arrived at the gate, it struck a shield, which flared a bright electric blue as it spread out several meters, indicating that while the Flamethrower was quite powerful, it was still insufficient to break through the shield. Charizard grimaced as the flame was repulsed. Pikachu soon focused on the gate to the town and proceeded to unleash a Thunderbolt on the gate. Again, a shield flared into existence as the bolt of lightning struck the shield. Pikachu soon swept the bolt farther and farther in towards the town, trying to gauge how far the shield extended. The shield seemed to extend a long ways, for the shield seemed to go on for at least a mile.

While Ash and Pikachu suspected that there were likely some holes in the shield, it would take a great deal of power to try to find those holes. In addition, there were the other defenses for the base that would have to be dealt with. The only relatively safe way for them to get through would be for them to go in through the front gate. However, there would still be the issue of breaking through the shield, as well as having to get past the Rockets that were barring their way. He was not too worried about being able to beat the Rockets, though. His worries came at how much energy his Pokémon would expend in doing so. There was also the issue of them potentially having Legendary Pokémon to deal with, too. Still, he felt as if he and his Pokémon were up to the task. He had to help Mia, no matter the cost. To that end, he told Charizard, "Let's get down and land. We'll have to go in on foot."

Charizard gave a rumble and descended to the ground. The dragon soon landed and stooped down so Ash and Pikachu could dismount. As soon as Ash touched down on the ground, Pikachu jumped off his shoulder. Coming out to face them were four Rocket Grunts, the same Grunts that had been fighting alongside Butch and Cassidy when he and Mia had been fighting them, along with Butch and Cassidy. Apparently, they were ready to go another round with Ash and his Pokémon.

"So, it looks like you're ready for another round," Butch proclaimed with a sadistic grin.

"Funny, shouldn't it be _me_ sayin' that since we just got finished beating your Pokémon mere minutes ago?" Ash retorted.

"Yeah, but now, Leaf's nowhere to be seen," the oldest of the Rocket Brothers retorted. "You're all alone, kid."

"I'm not alone," Ash countered, Charizard and Pikachu echoing his retort.

The Rockets gave a chuckle and grabbed two Poké Balls each. "You can't beat us all by yourself," they mocked. "Without Leaf, you're nothing," they finished, chuckling, heedless of the possibility that the boy standing in front of them could actually defeat them with only Charizard and Pikachu seemingly ready for battle.

"We'll see about that!" Ash cried as he grabbed his remaining Poké Balls and tossed them into the air. "Everyone, come on out!" he cried.

The Poké Balls opened and out came Blastoise, Snorlax, Sceptile, and Donphan. Each Pokémon landed on the ground and gave a cry. They then stretched with some punching the air, getting a feel for how their bodies felt. They were quite satisfied when they found themselves back up to full strength. They then turned to face down the Rockets. The Rockets, for their part, were not surprised and arrogantly smirked. "Big mistake," the oldest of the Rocket Brothers mocked.

Immediately, they opened their Poké Balls and out came a Muk, Feraligatr, Weezing, Meganium, Hypno, Alakazam, Murkrow, and Magneton. They were soon joined by an array of other Pokémon, most of them consisting of Koffings and Grimers, with a couple of Kadabras and Drowzees for support. Butch and Cassidy sent out a Hypno, Aggron, and Raticate to face off against Ash and his Pokémon. Ash grimaced as they Pokémon came out to face them. _How were they getting so many Pokémon and how were several others reviving so quickly after being beaten_? he wondered. He quickly shrugged off the question and focused on the task at hand. While he had gained a lot of experience this day in dealing with Team Rocket and their Pokémon, the battles were beginning to wear on him. His Pokémon responded to the attack by unleashing a volley of attacks on the Rocket Brothers' Pokémon. Their first barrage managed to take down Alakazam and, Muk, and Feraligatr while inflicting significant damage to two Grimers and a Weezing. The Rockets were taken off guard by the attack and they were shocked as one of their stronger Pokémon was taken down before it had managed to begin to fight. They backed off a few steps, as did their Pokémon, before yelling to their remaining Pokémon, "What are you idiots doing? You outnumber them more than three to one! Get back in there and take them out now!"

Some of their Pokémon turned back to them, the expressions on their faces showing the shock at the order. Some of them even grumbled at them, as if they wanted their Trainers to go in and try to take down Ash's Pokémon. They looked back as Meganium and Hypno were the next to fall. Butch and Cassidy's Hypno soon joined them as Serperior took him down with a Leaf Storm attack. The other Pokémon, wanting no part of Ash's Pokémon, who they had expected to be tired and worn down due to the previous battles, backed away even more.

"Come on you cowards!" the Rocket Brothers cried. "Get back in there and fight!"

The Pokémon growled and roared, which could be roughly translated as, _You_ _get in there and fight_!

The Rocket Brothers and Butch and Cassidy must have been able to translate what their Pokémon were saying, for they drew their Ray Guns and stepped forward, scanning the area for Ash. They quickly spotted him standing close to his Pokémon, issuing orders for the battle. They watched as he pointed towards the two closest Koffings, who were about to launch a Sludge attack on his team, and commanded, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on those two Koffings!"

Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity and soon, a bolt of lightning erupted from the Pokémon. The stream of electricity broke into two bolts and struck both Koffings, taking both down with a single hit. Unfortunately, for the Koffings, and a Grimer who was not too far away, the sludge of one of the Pokémon was ignited and caught fire. The fire spread back into the Koffing's mouth and it exploded. A large fireball and cloud of smoke erupted from the epicenter of the explosion. The explosion was powerful enough to take down the Pokémon, its partner Koffing, and the Grimer that had been standing next to them. A Drowzee was also not too far away and it, too, suffered damage from the explosion, but unlike the two Koffings and the Grimer, it was still able to fight. As for Pikachu and Ash's other Pokémon, they were far enough away from the Koffing's explosion that they were not harmed by it in the least. As the blast cloud settled, Ash could see the unconscious form of the Koffing that had involuntarily exploded.

The Rockets were not bothered by the loss of those Pokémon, though. They merely grimaced as they saw Ash and his Pokémon fight more ferociously than they would have ever expected. While seeing his Pokémon fight hard did not surprise them, they were surprised by the expression on his face. All throughout the battle in the hotel and the second battle during the chase, he had seemed a little apprehensive. He was willing to fight and was not really scared of Team Rocket itself, but he _did_ seem to subconsciously hold back against them. This time, though, he more strongly resembled Mia in temperament. His serious, almost cold look reminded them too strongly of Leaf, their worst nightmare. They were eager to wipe his serious look off his face and return him to what they thought was the more apprehensive boy of old. Perhaps they had made a mistake in capturing her.

They went to level their Ray Guns at him and prepared to open fire when a barrage of yellow seeds landed among them, with some of them striking Butch's Ray Gun. Electricity sparked from the holes that were drilled into the Ray Gun by the unknown attack. Butch threw away the Ray Gun and looked around, wondering, "What the...? Who the heck attacked us and where did it come from?"

The Rockets began to scan the area and were surprised to see Ash and his Pokémon doing the same. Everyone's question was quickly answered as four newcomers quickly came rushing onto the scene. After a few moments, they were able to make out the features of the new arrivals and grimaced, recognizing them as Ash and Leaf's mother and friends: Delia, Tracey, May, and Dawn.

"Ash, are you alright?" Delia cried as she led the pack coming to support Ash. She and the others quickly arrived and skidded to a halt, facing down the Rocket Brothers. Behind the group were their Pokémon. Tracey, May, and Dawn, had their whole teams already out and ready for battle, while Delia was being supported by Venusaur, Infernape, Serperior, Gigalith, Krookodile, Swellow, Scrafty, and Greninja. The Rocket Brothers were less than pleased at the appearance of the new arrivals and began to sweat, no longer knowing whether or not they would be able to hold off the new arrivals.

"What's going on Ash, are you okay?" May asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm fine," Ash answered seriously. "Mia went on ahead, though. I've gotta back her up."

"What can we do to help?" Dawn asked.

"Team Rocket's raised some sort of barrier over the town that needs to be taken down for us to get through. I'll need Scrafty to use Brick Break to collapse it."

"We'll hold off Team Rocket while you go in and take down that barrier," Delia declared.

"You'll also want to take Venusaur with you, too," Tracey suggested. "His Sleep Powder will allow you to avoid a large number of battles."

"But I already have six Pokémon," Ash said regrettably.

"You're the Champion," Tracey replied. "You can carry more than six Pokémon as long as they're not in Poké Balls. And besides, Pikachu's never in his Poké Ball anyway. There should be no problem."

"Right," Ash answered, smiling.

With that, Ash went forward with his team, Venusaur, and Scrafty, straight towards the gate that led into the town. To gauge where the barrier began, so they would not run headfirst into a solid wall, Ash told Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thundershock on the gate. We don't want to use up too much power before the real battle begins."

Pikachu nodded and said, "Pika," in affirmation. As he powered the Thundershock, though, the Rocket Brothers cried out, "Everyone, go after Ash and his Pokémon. We can't let them take down that barrier!"

Their Pokémon, who were sizing up the situation with the new arrivals, quickly diverted their attention and went to attack Ash and his Pokémon.

"Not going to happen!" Delia cried as she and the others launched themselves at the Rocket Brothers and their Pokémon. A barrage of attacks ranging from Flamethrower, to Bullet Seed, to Razor Leaf, to even Hydro Pump assaulted the Pokémon that were headed towards Ash's team. They scored direct hits on the Rocket Pokémon and knocked them off course, with some of them being taken out of the fight. A Drowzee and a Weezing laid on the ground unconscious, with a Muk struggling to continue the battle.

That attack gave Ash and his Pokémon all the time they needed in order to take down the barrier. Ash's other Pokémon turned back to support his mother and friends while Pikachu's Thundershock struck the barrier, causing it to flare into existence as electricity arced across it as it took the hit. Now that they had the precise location of the barrier, Ash looked over at Scrafty and told him, "Scrafty, use Brick Break on the barrier!"

Scrafty approached the barrier and raised its right arm. His hand soon glowed white and he thrust his hand towards the barrier. His hand struck the barrier, causing it to flare an electric blue. Soon, cracks appeared over the energy field and after a few seconds, Scrafty was able to shove his hand through. Once his hand was through, the barrier instantly collapsed, opening the way to Team Rocket Headquarters for Ash.

He and his Pokémon quickly surged through. Scrafty looked like he wanted to come, but Ash told him, "You did great Scrafty. You stay here with Mom and the others and cover them. They'll need your Dark typing for dealing with the Psychic-type Pokémon that the Rocket Brothers are using."

Scrafty could see the wisdom in Ash's decision, something which surprised him greatly, and he had no issues staying behind and helping out Ash's mother and friends. The others soon watched as Ash mounted Charizard once more and he returned his Pokémon to their Poké Balls so as to be able to get everyone to the base as quickly and safely as possible. As they left, Delia and the others watched them depart. The Rocket Brothers considered going after Ash and his Pokémon, but soon decided not to, knowing that if they pursued him, they would have Delia and the others attacking their backs. They realized that the best thing they could do would be to alert Giovanni that he was about to come under attack and do whatever they could to keep Ash's mother and friends from being able to reach him and render any aid. They faced down Ash's mother and friends and the oldest of the Brothers then declared, "This is it. We're gonna be facin' a tough battle here. We're the line. No one gets past us. No one!"

The Rocket Brothers, Butch, and Cassidy then pointed towards Delia and the others and cried, "Attack!" Their Pokémon obeyed and unleashed a barrage of attacks towards Delia and Ash's friends' Pokémon. They deftly avoided the incoming barrage and made ready to return fire. The battle had begun.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Ash rode Charizard through the small town, trying to find Team Rocket Headquarters as quickly as possible. The town was small and only had a few buildings that mostly consisted of small houses and huts. That made the large building in the center of town stand out that much more. All throughout the town were long, straight dirt roads. Ash scanned the small town and saw a road that led directly to the tall building off in the distance. Looking up, he saw a helicopter race towards the building. It looked like an old Earth attack helicopter. As it neared the building, he noticed that it was beginning to slow down. As it slowed down, he managed to get a better look at it. It was gray with a red "R" on its side. It was clear that it was affiliated with Team Rocket. Seeing no other landing areas, he figured that the helicopter had to be preparing to land on a pad on one side of the building. Wasting no time, he rushed after the helicopter as it slowed down even more as it got closer to the building off in the distance, wanting to reach Team Rocket's Headquarters as quickly as possible.

The group continued to follow the helicopter, being careful to not follow too closely, so as to not draw too much attention to them. They followed the road that would lead them straight to the building. Ash quickly scanned his surroundings as they moved, wanting to make sure that he and his Pokémon did not fall into an ambush.

As they approached the building, they quickly saw that it was much larger than it had initially appeared. It was not so much a building as it was a small base. It had four main wings, one pointing in each cardinal direction. On one of the wings was a helicopter pad and the group saw the helicopter that they were chasing circling the pad. Eventually, the helicopter stopped and hovered over a single spot for a few seconds before descending to the surface. Ash knew that he did not have a lot of time. He knew that he had to get to his sister as quickly as possible to support her in taking down Team Rocket.

Spurring Charizard on, the group surged towards the building, flying low so that they would be more difficult for standard radar to detect. It did not take them long to arrive at the building. As they made their way towards the building, they glanced around their surroundings to make sure that there were no Rockets outside the building that may have been lying in wait. So far, the path was clear. Facing no sign of resistance, they continued to make their way towards the building.

Back outside of town, May, Dawn, Delia, Tracey and their Pokémon stared down the Rocket Brothers. They deployed their Pokémon with Ash's Krookodile jumping into the air, prompting the other Pokémon and humans on the team to prepare to jump. Just as Krookodile landed, they jumped. Rings of energy erupted from the ground beneath bipedal crocodile-like Pokémon and spread out. As the rings spread out, the ground cracked and split, rocks shooting up out of the ground in some areas, and the ground collapsing in others. The ground shook from the impact of Krookodile's landing, knocking the Rockets and their Pokémon off balance. While they were reeling, May and Dawn's Pokémon went on the offensive, with Ash's Pokémon that had stayed behind with Delia staying back to cover them should they need help. A grounded Steelix was the first Pokémon of Team Rocket's to fall in this renewed attack. An Arbok, a purple cobra-like Pokémon with markings on its hood and underbelly, and a Machamp also suffered significant damage, but were still able to fight. Arbok quickly stood erect and fired a barrage of Poison Sting at Krookodile. Silver pins emerged from the cobra's mouth and lashed out at Krookodile. The crocodile-like Pokémon deftly dodged the attack as Machamp rushed towards him, only to be felled by a Bubblebeam from Piplup, and a Fire Blast from Blaziken. Arbok was promptly frozen solid by an Ice Beam fired from May's Glaceon. Glalie soon faced down a Rhydon and froze it solid with a single Ice Beam. Dawn's Mamoswine also joined in the fighting, taking down a Shuckle, a Pokémon with a thick red shell and four yellow legs and a long yellow neck, freezing it with a Blizzard attack.

Looking on at the battle, the Rocket Brothers quickly saw that things were quickly getting out of hand. Despite initially outnumbering the Pokémon of the new arrivals, the losses sustained at the hands of Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon had weakened their ranks enough so that they would be targets for these new arrivals. Not only that, but even after Mia's capture and Ash's return to the battlefield, while they had been able to revive their fainted Pokémon, the Pokémon were still feeling the fatigue from having to battle against Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Added to the fact that their numbers were now down to the point where they were now outnumbered by the Pokémon of Ash's friends and family, things were looking bad for them. In desperation, the Rocket Brothers drew a bead on May, Dawn, Delia, and their Pokémon and opened fire.

Mamoswine quickly used Ice Shard, and a shard of ice formed in front of its tusks. The shard was then launched directly at the Rocket Brothers at high speed, causing them to scatter and fire wildly, missing their marks. The green energy pulses even failed to score a hit on the incoming icicle. The shard of ice struck the ground and remained imbedded. Unfortunately for Team Rocket, it was not large enough for them to take cover behind. The Rocket Brothers, themselves, also took some potshots at the heroes, but they, too, missed their mark as they had to deal with a return onslaught in the form of both May and Dawn's Pokémon. Pink flowers, leaves, ice shards from Blizzard, Ice Beams, and other elemental attacks all streamed their way, forcing them to take cover or be burned and/or frozen alive. They managed to dive out of the way of the oncoming attacks, but their Primeape, a round, white-furred, Pokémon with strong arms and legs that loosely resembled a primate, took the full brunt of the attacks and was lucky to merely be rendered unconscious.

Looking on, they saw two more Pokémon of theirs fall and they quickly realized that things were going from bad to worse. They would not hold out for long. Still, they had to do their best, for while they did not want to risk getting beaten by a bunch of kids, they did not want to go back to Giovanni and report a complete and utter failure, either, especially since Ash had already managed to get through the line. To that end, they continued to fight, hoping that Giovanni would send some reinforcements to deal with these kids before they were completely overrun.

Meanwhile, inside Team Rocket's headquarters, Giovanni sat in his office, waiting for the inevitable to occur. He studied the various reports coming in from the sentries that he had placed and scout parties that he had sent out into the abandoned town, all of them reporting that no one was coming save for Ash, but that he was far away. There was a sighting of Ash's mother and three friends from the hotel but they were currently engaging the Rocket Brothers. Reports were looking bleak for that group, but he did not care. They were doing their job. They were keeping them from being able to come to the aid of either Ash or Leaf. He was not too worried about Ash. Despite stopping some of Team Rocket's plans in the past, he was not all that experienced in really dealing with the more competent Rockets. Leaf, however, had nearly taken down the organization twice without any outside assistance. She was trouble. He soon went over to his desk and pushed a button. The image of Gideon appeared on the screen.

"Giovanni, sir," the lead Scientist almost stammered when he noticed his boss. "What may I do for you?"

"How is Genesect's revival coming?"

"It's coming along nicely, sir. It'll only be about ten minutes or so more before we're ready."

"And the Unova Pokémon transference code?"

Gideon then stepped aside and the image of Doctor Zager appeared. "We're studying it now and we're making progress. However, we still haven't cracked the code so we can't begin using the program to transfer all of Kanto's captured Pokémon to Team Rocket yet. Chances are that it will be quite some time before we can accomplish that, especially if we want to expand its protocols and transfer every captured Pokémon in the world to our computer. And even if we do, we'll still have to control them in some fashion."

"That's what the Badge Amplifier is for. We can control all of our captured Pokémon with that, even the Legendaries."

"Yes, sir," Dr. Zager replied. "I'll inform you when Genesect is ready."

With that, Giovanni closed the channel and screen went blank. The Rocket Boss was then left alone once more with only his Persian to keep him company. He opened his a drawer and pulled out an old Earth slugthrower gun. After checking the magazine to make sure it was loaded, he cocked the gun to chamber a round and then released the magazine. He caught the magazine and loaded a single bullet in to replace the already chambered round. He then put the magazine back in the gun and waited. He knew that while Leaf was a child, she had a great deal of experience infiltrating enemy bases before, particularly his own. Still, she had not faced him when he decided to use conventional means against her before. His slugthrower should be sufficient to stop the girl if it came down to a fight. The bigger problem would be her Pokémon. Each and every one of them was battle trained and battle hardened. There was no way that the sentries would be able to stop her on their own. The fact that nothing had been reported only went to show him that either the defenses had been breached or she was being cautious in her approach. He knew that the girl's mother, brother, and friends were coming and would soon overrun the Rocket Brothers. When they arrived, if he could capture some or all of them, he would have some leverage over her. Still, he knew that it would be difficult and hoped against hope that it would not come down to that, even though he dreaded that it would. While he dreaded facing down Leaf, she was not unbeatable. Ash had managed to defeat her in battle. If he could do that, then there was still a chance that he could beat Leaf, too. After all, in his one battle against Ash before, he had beaten that Pikachu Jessie, James, and Meowth were so obsessed in capturing.

Just outside of Giovanni's office, Aizen stood and waited along with Jessie, James, and Meowth. Knowing everything that was going on, he knew that his goals could be complicated if Ash managed to breach Team Rocket's security too easily, especially if he also got reinforcements, to aid him as well. He did not like Giovanni abandoning the front lines due to the fact that one of his enemies had managed to breach them. He shook his head. Giovanni should have expected this and have taken further precautions. The failed attack on the hotel was really coming back to bite him. He should have either emptied out the base entirely or not at all and merely dared them to come to him. Even worse than the fact that Mia had survived the botched assassination attempt and was coming here, there was still the issue that she had her family to help her try and take down Team Rocket once and for all. With all of those strong Pokémon at their disposal, even the Legendaries that Team Rocket had captured might not have been sufficient to stop them. As it was, there was little that he could do on his own to stop any of them without giving himself away. With the return of some notably powerful psychics to Earth, he wanted to remain hidden. While he wanted his revenge more than anything, if he could catch his enemy off guard and kill him that way, it would be the best-case scenario of all. And if he could kill some of the psychics that had come back to Earth, all the better.

Countless scenarios went through his mind as he played out all possible outcomes of the upcoming battles. He knew that the Rocket grunts that would intercept any intruders on the tenth floor would be casually cast aside like bothersome twigs. He, of course, could defeat any of the humans and their Pokémon with ease, assuming that Pikachu did not have a Light Ball or Leaf and Ash did not decide to Mega Evolve any of their Pokémon, but he knew that doing so would reveal things about himself that he did not want Giovanni, or the rest of Team Rocket, to know about just yet, not to mention that it could reveal his true nature to his enemies and they would know that he was here. Still, Leaf was a Pokémon Trainer, and if Giovanni could manage to get her into a Pokémon battle without any backup coming for her, then he might be able to defeat her, or at least slow her down so that more leverage could be gained on her, possibly by capturing her family. It was a risk, since Leaf happened to be one of the Chosen Heroes, but if things worked out, he could lure his true target out into the open, kill him, and also deal with a few more Chosen Heroes in the process. One thing, though, was that if the lobby were abandoned, then there would be no one to stop Ash, Leaf, and their friends and family from coming in force and making an already difficult situation even worse. He knew that he could defeat Mewtwo, but only if he could execute his plan. For that to happen, he needed to have this battle be a close one, one that Ash, Leaf and friends either could, or would, lose without Mewtwo's interference. To that end, he feigned as if he was receiving a message over his headset.

"Okay," he said, causing Jessie and James to look over at him. They stared as he nodded a few times, as if acknowledging an order to himself and he finished with, "Understood, sir. We're on it."

Looking up and seeing Jessie, James, and now Meowth, looking at him, he heard them ask, "What was that about?"

"New orders from Giovanni," he replied casually. "Leaf has just broken through the Rocket Brothers' line and is on her way here. Ash is also not very far behind. You three are to remain here and intercept the intruder should she appear. Giovanni thinks that Leaf may have backup and that said backup may be a ways behind. After all, the Rocket Brothers had fought Ash and even Leaf before Leaf broke through and you three retreated. I'm to go down to the lobby and intercept him until my own backup can arrive. You three just focus on protecting Giovanni. Hopefully you three won't be needed."

"Understood," the trio replied in unison, saluting him. Aizen then made his way to the elevator that would take him down to the first floor and then to the lobby so that he could intercept Ash or whoever else was coming to aid Leaf.

Inside his office, Giovanni was already considering his options. He did not relish the prospect of facing down Mia, who had managed to beat him on several occasions with him never once having managed to even take down a single one of her Pokémon. He soon opened a channel to the Rocket Brothers and called, "Giovanni to the Rocket Brothers, what's your status?"

The sounds of battle came through the radio as one of the Brothers, the oldest, replied, "We're getting our rears handed to us, sir. There's no way we'll hold out against these kids and their Pokémon."

At the battle, the oldest Rocket Brother watched as Glaceon and Mamoswine froze his Salamence solid with an Ice Beam and Blizzard combination attack. A green bipedal plant-like Pokémon with flowers for hands, Roserade, sustained a direct hit from two Flamethrowers launched by Dawn's Typhlosion and May's Blaziken, knocking it out of the fight. Ash's Venusaur under Delia's command also dealt with a sea horse-like Pokémon, Seadra, that one of the Rocket Brothers had commanded to use Ice Beam on Delia. The Solar Beam unleashed by Venusaur took down the Seadra with a single hit.

Back at the base, Giovanni listened as the Rocket Brothers reported, "We've just lost Salamence, Roserade, and Seadra. Butch and Cassidy have lost all of their Pokémon, too. We're overmatched!"

"Who are you fighting?"

"Grand Festival winners May and Dawn, along with Ash Ketchum's mother, Delia, and a Pokémon Watcher and research assistant named Tracey Sketchit. Delia has some of Ash's Pokémon with her and they're wreaking havoc on our forces. We'll never hold them back!"

"Then don't bother. Get out of there now," Giovanni commanded. "Once you're safely away, stand by and await further orders."

"Understood, sir, and thank you," came the response from the Rocket Brothers. Giovanni then cut the channel and prepared to make his own plans for escape if things went even worse.

Back at the battle, though, Butch and Cassidy looked over at the oldest Rocket Brother as they finished returning their fallen Pokémon to their Poké Balls and asked, "So, what did the boss say?"

"He wants us to get out of here and await further orders," the Rocket Brother replied.

"Thank goodness!" one of the Brothers heaved.

"Yeah," the second agreed.

The oldest Rocket Brother then called out to the others and yelled, "Everyone get back to base. Retreat!"

"Halleluiah," the fourth Rocket Brother cheered as he immediately slipped on his jetpack.

Once the order to retreat was given, the Brother, wasted no time rocketing into the air and speeding out of sight over towards the small town in the distance, Butch and Cassidy quickly following them.

Seeing the Rocket Brothers, Butch, and Cassidy retreat, Delia and the others knew that they could only be heading back to the base. "They're headed back to their base," May called out.

"We have to follow them!" Dawn declared as they rushed after the fleeing Rockets. Delia quickly followed after, grabbing the back of Venusaur so that he could quickly get her to her children.

"Wait!" Delia called, noticing that they were flying in the opposite direction that she saw Ash go. "They're not going back to their base. They're going somewhere else. We can't worry about them," she declared forcefully. "We have to get to my children!" She then told the others, "Ash headed east towards a small town. Follow me!" She then led the way to the town not too far away, with the rest of the group following her lead.

Just outside the base, Mia had finally managed to make it to Team Rocket's Headquarters. She had encountered no further resistance since making it past the Rocket sentries in the town, which surprised her greatly and caused her to be on edge. Once she arrived, she quickly dismounted Garchomp and said, "Thanks for the help, Garchomp. Take some time to rest and conserve your strength. I'll call you again when I need your help." She then pulled out Garchomp's Poké Ball and returned the land shark to it. Once that was finished, she looked took a deep breath and said, "This is it. One way or the other, it ends today."

Mia then released Venusaur and Jolteon from their Poké Balls. Mia focused on the two of them and said, "Okay you two, you're going to be the front line in this assault. If we encounter any Team Rocket Grunts, Officers, or Scientists, we'll have to take them down before they can release their Pokémon. Otherwise, we'll get worn down by superior numbers. Venusaur, I'll need you to use Sleep Powder on them and make it a strong concoction so that they'll be out for a long time." Looking over to Jolteon, she said, "Jolteon, I'll need you to paralyze anyone who makes it through with Thunder Wave. I'll want you to conserve your electricity so that you'll be able to battle if we face off against some stronger members of Team Rocket. You'll also be useful for dealing with any cameras that may be situated in the lobby and halls."

"Jolt," Jolteon replied strongly as electricity crackled in his fur, setting it on edge, indicating that he was ready to go. Once everyone was ready, the group headed towards the building. They quickly arrived and, not stopping to see if there were any sentries, they surged into the building.

The group entered the building to find most of the lobby deserted, save for two members of Team Rocket lounging around, along with couple of Magnetons and a Magnezone. Upon spotting Mia, one of the Scientists, blurted, "Oh great, she's here!"

"Who cares," the other Rocket quipped confidently. "Let's rock her world." Turning to his Magnezone, who was already rising and awaiting orders, he commanded, "Magnezone, use Thunder on that kid. Kill her!"

He did not get the chance to attack, though, for Venusaur and Jolteon quickly attacked Magnezone using Energy Ball and Thunderbolt. The bolt of lightning struck Magnezone and electricity arced across its body just as Venusaur's Energy Ball collided with it. The Pokémon gave a cry as it took the attacks from the two Pokémon. As such, it fell to the floor and was quickly finished off by a second green Energy Ball to the face. The ball exploded and obscured the Pokémon for a few moments before the dust cloud dissipated, revealing the fainted Pokémon. Jolteon then made sure that the other Rocket and his Pokémon would not join the fight by firing a Thunderbolt that branched off into four bolts of lightning. Two of the lightning bolts struck the Rockets and not only knocked them unconscious, but also paralyzed them as well. The other two struck the Magnetons that were beginning to rise and inflicted significant damage to them, but their Sturdy ability prevented them from being knocked out by the lightning bolts. Venusaur then quickly entered the fray and fired a barrage of Razor Leaf at them, knocking them unconscious with the stream of razor-sharp leaves. The two Electric/Steel-type Pokémon fell to the floor and ceased moving. Finally, Jolteon glanced around the lobby and soon spotted a couple of cameras. He then unleashed a Thunderbolt on them and disabled them, the cameras sparking electricity as they were disabled.

Meanwhile, in the headquarters' command center, the base's Chief of Security, Joe Marsden, a man brown hair and brown eyes and wore the standard Team Rocket uniform albeit without a hat. He was quick to notice that the cameras in the central lobby had gone silent, a fact that two technicians were quick to point out. "Chief Marsden, Cameras One and Two have gone silent."

"I can see that," Marsden retorted angrily. "Initiate a base-wide Security Alert. Send some security officers down to the lobby to investigate and report back on the situation."

"But sir, that would take away security forces from the labs and from Giovanni's office and our scientists aren't Pokémon Trainers."

"I don't care," Marsden roared. "Just do it! I'll tell the boss of the situation and tell him to be ready."

"Understood, sir," the technician replied as he carried out Marsden's orders. As soon as the exchange was completed, the technician pushed a button and the lights dimmed and there was now a red hue about the room. Red lines on the wall lit up and flashed intermittently.

Looking to another technician, Marsden bellowed, "Get me Giovanni now!"

"Yes sir," the technician replied as he typed in a series of commands on his console.

On Marsden's console screen, the face of Giovanni appeared. "What is it?" Giovanni demanded. "Why has Security Alert been initiated?"

"Sir, Cameras One and Two have gone silent." Marsden answered. "I have sent security forces to investigate the situation, but chances are that…"

"No," Giovanni interrupted. "Send them to the stairwell that leads to the lobby. She'll likely take the stairwell to avoid detection."

"You think it's Leaf?"

"I know it is," came Giovanni's answer. "Leaf's the most dangerous opponent we've ever faced. We must send everything we've got to face her now before it's too late!"

"But what about any future intruders? What if her brother and family follow her? We can't leave the lobby unprotected."

"Let the others handle the situation if that happens."

"Understood," Marsden replied. He then cut the line and went about alerting security to go to the lobby so they could intercept Mia.

Back in the lobby, Mia was scanning the area hoping to find a stairwell that would take her to Giovanni's office, for she knew that there would be cameras in every elevator and she did not want Giovanni to have advance knowledge of her arrival. As she began her search, though, several elevator doors opened and disgorged numerous Rocket Grunts. The moment the Grunts emerged from the elevators, they stopped and cursed. "Oh crap, it's Leaf!" one of them swore as he drew out a grayish science fiction looking Ray Gun. Before the Rocket got a chance to fire at her, though, Jolteon's Poké Ball opened and the dog-like Pokémon emerged and unleashed a massive Thunderbolt on him. The bolt of lightning instantly struck the Rocket and took him down, leaving the Rocket either unconscious or dead. Needless to say, his threat was neutralized.

The other Rockets quickly formed up and let out their own Pokémon, hoping to send out a force that would outnumber Mia's Pokémon, as well as provide Pokémon shields for them. They sent out several Koffings, two Weezings, a few Machops, and a Machoke. The Rockets grinned, knowing that one of Mia's strongest Pokémon happened to be the Rock/Dark-type Tyranitar, who had a quadruple weakness to Fighting-type attacks. Unfortunately for the Rockets, Mia was not deterred and the rest of her team quickly emerged from their own Poké Balls. Mia could only grin, and the Rockets cringe, as Starmie emerged from one of the Poké Balls. Starmie, of course, was part Psychic-type and also knew Psychic, which it used against the Poison and Fighting-type Pokémon that were arrayed against Mia and her friends. A blue field of energy surrounded the Rockets, human and Pokémon alike, and lifted them into the air. The Rockets tried to draw their side arms but found their movements restricted by Starmie's psychic abilities. After a moment of remaining immobilized in the air, Starmie hurled the Rockets against the wall, where they crashed, denting the wall and leaving cracks in it, and slid down said wall, unconscious or worse. With the Rockets and their Pokémon having been dealt with, Mia continued to make her way down the corridor and scan for the stairwell that would take her to Giovanni's location.

Meanwhile, down in the lobby, Ash had just entered the building and was making his way towards the nearest elevator when the door opened just as he and Pikachu approached. Standing inside the elevator was a single Rocket officer in a black uniform with short brown hair and red eyes staring back at him. "Ash Ketchum," he almost laughed in an ominous tone. "One of the Chosen Heroes." Looking at Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder, he continued, "And his Pikachu, another Chosen Hero." He then gave a grin. Ash did not know what this talk of Chosen Heroes was about, but he was not about to let a single Rocket agent stop him from reaching his sister.

Ash was puzzled by his talk about Chosen Heroes, but he did not let it distract him from his mission. "I'm not gonna let you stop me," he declared, grabbing two Poké Balls. "I have to help Mia, and stop Team Rocket once and for all."

"That's a pity because I can't let you get to Giovanni just yet." Aizen then released his own set of Pokémon: an Alakazam, a Magmortar, a humanoid Fire-type Pokémon that had flame launchers for hands and was the evolved form of Magmar; a Leafeon, a green Grass-type Pokémon that was of the Eevee evolution line, a Kingdra, a blue seahorse-like Pokémon that was the evolved form of Seadra, and a little larger and regal looking; a Mismagius, and a Dugtrio, a Pokémon that looked like three brown heads jutting out of the ground, each with a pink nose, and black eyes.

Ash eyed Aizen's Pokémon and grimaced. This would not be as easy as he thought, but he would not let Aizen or his team stop him. He tossed his two Poké Balls into the air and cried, "Everyone, come on out!"

Immediately, both Poké Balls opened and out came Charizard and Blastoise. Ash then grabbed his remaining Poké Balls and opened them up, revealing Sceptile, Donphan, and Snorlax. Aizen merely grinned. "Finally, a battle against a champ. I can't wait." With that grin, he cried, "Everyone, go!"

Ash echoed his cry and the two teams launched their attacks against each other, with the close range combatants charging towards the enemy team. The battle had begun.

Meanwhile, over at the hotel, the police had finally arrived to take the Rocket survivors into custody. Lance and Cynthia watched as the police pulled up in their white hovercars, their lights flashing. When they pulled up, they saw the two Champions and came to a quick halt. The door to one of the cars then opened and out stepped a female police officer with turquoise hair, amber eyes, and wearing a police uniform. Lance and Cynthia instantly recognized the officer as being Officer Jenny, a police officer in a family of police officers where all of the females looked almost identical to one another. Neither Lance nor Cynthia could tell the difference between the numerous Officer Jennys and they even wondered if all of the Jennys were clones. They had also wondered the same about the various Nurse Joys that were seen in all Pokémon Centers all around the Pokémon World.

Upon emerging from the car, Officer Jenny immediately surveyed the scene as the other officers exited their cars, too. She quickly spotted Lance and Cynthia and went over to them, asking, "Lance, Cynthia, what happened here?"

"Thank you for coming," Lance began. "Anyway, Team Rocket launched an attack on the hotel where a party for the Champion was being held."

"Team Rocket was here?" the officer gasped, shocked that Team Rocket would launch such a brazen attack on a hotel where there would be so many witnesses.

Cynthia and Lance both nodded. "They attacked the Champion and his family," Lance answered.

"Were there any casualties?" Jenny asked.

Cynthia shook her head. "No, none of the Champion's party were injured or killed. The attack was repulsed and save for a few escapees, these are the only Rocket survivors from the battle."

"How many Rocket casualties were there?"

"I don't know," Cynthia answered. "There were at least two confirmed dead from another source that was not present at the fight."

"Do you want us to search for the source?"

Cynthia and Lance considered Jenny's question. They had heard from Delia and the others that the Rocket Agent known as Domino had been killed by an energy blast, as had another Rocket. However, they did not want Ash and his family's guardian angel to be arrested and stopped from helping on the chance that Officer Jenny confused him for an enemy. As such, she answered, "No, focus on taking these Rockets into custody. We'll need to question them as soon as we can. There's no way that they would attack the Champion without reason."

Officer Jenny nodded. "Agreed. Well, we'll take the Rockets into custody and find out what they know."

"Thank you," Lance and Cynthia answered.

As they then stepped away as the police swept into the hotel to investigate the attack and take the Rockets into custody, Cynthia's cell phone suddenly rang, something that surprised her.

"That was fast," Lance quipped, figuring that someone was contacting them about the attack on Ash and his family.

Cynthia got out her phone and answered it, putting it up to her ear. "Hello, this is Cynthia," she spoke into the receiver.

She then listened to a voice at the other end, occasionally nodding. "What?" she suddenly blurted. "There have been others?"

After another pause, she continued to listen as a muffled voice spoke again. Lance watched, trying to hear what the voice on the other end was saying. He had a bad feeling that the attack on Ash and his family was nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. After a while, he heard Cynthia sigh and say, "Okay, we'll be there."

She then pushed a button, deactivating the phone and turned to Lance, a serious expression framing her face.

"What is it?" Lance asked. Despite asking the question, he already suspected that he knew what her answer would be.

"We've been ordered to head back to the World Pokémon League Headquarters on Indigo Plateau at once. An emergency meeting has been called."

"What did you mean when you asked 'there had been others'?"

"Team Rocket has been reported to have attacked all eight of the gyms in the Kanto Region," Cynthia answered.

Lance's eyes went wide with shock. "Any losses?" He dreaded the answer.

Fortunately, though, Cynthia shook her head. "No. Each of the attacks was repulsed, much like the attack on Ash, Mia, and the party was repulsed."

"I don't like this," Lance said ominously. "Something's not right here. Team Rocket has suffered numerous losses. They wouldn't make attacks that could fail as miserably as these have unless they have a different plan and these are nothing more than decoys."

Cynthia nodded in agreement. "I know. That's why Jean Mercier wants to talk with us as soon as possible."

"Then let's get going," Lance said.

Cynthia nodded and the two Champions stepped outside and called out their Pokémon: Garchomp and Dragonite. They then mounted the Pokémon and flew away from the scene, headed to the World Pokémon League Headquarters.

While Ash and Aizen were fighting in the lobby, Giovanni had felt the tremors produced by the initial exchange all the way up in his office. Knowing that Ash had arrived, and dreading that Mia was not far off, he knew that he had to be ready leave his office at a moment's notice. He was in no condition to face anyone at this point in time. One thing he could not afford to do was to let Mia get any backup. To that end, he pushed a button on his desk and he ordered, "All security forces, we have a security breach. We need to make sure that anyone who has entered the base is intercepted at once. Everyone else, stand by for further orders."

He listened at the chorus of affirmations as he tensely sat in his seat, fingering a button beneath his desk. He knew that if things went badly, he would have to make a quick escape. Looking over at Persian, his expression told the cat-like Pokémon everything it needed. There was a very real possibility that whatever happened in the next few minutes could decide the fate of Team Rocket as a whole.

Back on the ground level of the base, Ash and Aizen's Pokémon clashed as they launched their strongest attacks on each other. As the attacks collided with each other in midair, a series of explosions rang out and a cloud of smoke erupted from the epicenters of the explosions. Several of Ash's Pokémon were forced back as a blast of wind collided with him and his Pokémon. They staggered backwards a few steps but were quick to regain their composure. Only Pikachu seemed to have suffered any noticeable damage, as several dirt marks marred his fur. Ash went over to him to examine him but he seemed to be fine and a grin and several sparks of electricity emanating from his cheeks indicated that he was still more than able to battle.

On the other side of the lobby, several of Aizen's Pokémon were flung from the centers of the explosions as well. They had not fared as well as Ash's Pokémon, for Aizen's Alakazam and Leafeon collided with the wall and they slid down to the floor and remained still, electricity arcing across their bodies. The swirls in their eyes indicated that they had fainted and were unable to continue battling. All of the other Pokémon were breathing a little heavily as well, indicating that they had sustained some damage from the initial exchange of attacks. There were also some marks on them as well, indicating that the attacks had taken their toll. Still, Aizen could only grin as the cloud of smoke obscured his Pokémon, and Ash's from view. He could not help but admit that Ash's Pokémon were strong, particularly that Pikachu. Still, he had a few secrets that would allow him to win even if Ash's Pokémon were able to emerge victorious against him without any losses coming to his team. Looking over to Mismagius, he commanded, "Mismagius, use Psychic to find the location of Ash's Pokémon through the dust cloud. Transmit the information to the others and coordinate with them."

Mismagius nodded and its eyes began to glow. This was an unfortunate mistake on Mismagius's part since the glow of its eyes gave away its position to Ash's Pokémon. A barrage of Razor Leaf, Energy Ball, and Flamethrower erupted from the cloud and converged on the Ghost-type Pokémon, creating another large explosion. The dust quickly cleared and Mismagius was seen lying on the floor, unconscious. In addition, a Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt, a Stone Edge barrage, and a stream of water came his way and also towards his remaining Pokémon. The Hyper Beam scored a direct hit on Magmortar and sent it flying. The Fire-type Pokémon fell to the ground but managed to survive the attack and slowly stood back up, burns and bruises marring its body, but it was still able to battle. Dugtrio took a direct hit from the Hydro Pump and was taken down in one hit. Kingdra took the remaining hits from Pikachu and Donphan and was force back a few paces, but stood its ground and glared into the clearing dust cloud.

It was now that Aizen grimaced. Two thirds of his team had been beaten in the exchange and his two remaining Pokémon had suffered significant damage in the recent exchange, all the while, Ash's Pokémon were still relatively fresh. He quickly considered his options. He could deploy one of his secret weapon right now, but doing so would be risky at best. Still, he had few options, for to engage Ash using his true power would tip off Giovanni, and the rest of Team Rocket, to his true nature. Not only that, but his chances of detection by enemies that were actually a threat to him would greatly increase, too.

He grabbed his remaining Poké Ball and was about to open it and release the Pokémon inside when he sensed several Rocket Grunts and Scientists coming down the stairwell and from the elevator. A few moments later, the doors to the stairwell and the elevator opened and twenty Rocket Grunts and Scientists flooded from the openings. The Grunts were primarily armed with what looked to be assault rifles, but a few of them were holding gray bazooka-like guns called Super Scopes. The Scientists were merely holding b-grade science fiction looking Ray Guns like those used by some Rockets in the attack on the hotel. Trailing the Grunts were a variety of Fighting-type and Poison-type Pokémon consisting of the Machop, Koffing, and Grimer, small purple puddles of sludge with eyes, a mouth, and two arms, evolutionary lines. In addition, there were a few of the Magnemite line following them as well. Aizen looked back and grinned as the Rockets appeared on the battlefield. "Looks like reinforcements have arrived," he gloated as he returned his two remaining Poké Balls to his waist.

Several Rockets quickly made their way towards the exits in order to cut off any avenue of escape for Ash. Each of the Grunts took out a Poké Ball and let out another Pokémon, often either a Grimer, Muk, Koffing, Weezing, or a Machoke; but a few let out Pokémon like Magmar, Electabuzz, and even a Loch Ness Monster-like Pokémon called Lapras. The Rockets grinned and snickered sadistically as they closed in on Ash, pointing their weapons at him. Their Pokémon echoed their sadistic grins and laughs.

Unfortunately, while they were laughing, Ash nodded to Venusaur and a large cloud of Sleep Powder was released from the plant on his back. Ash and Pikachu quickly ducked next to Venusaur and huddled as close to the plant as possible so as to avoid having any of the pollen land on them. The other Rockets seemed to be oblivious to the cloud until it was too late and it was already upon them. One by one, the Rockets and their Pokémon fell asleep. Even Aizen, though he would normally not have been affected by the Sleep Powder, feigned falling asleep so as to keep his true nature secret. He could not let his true nature be revealed just yet. He soon curled up on the ground and feigned sleep.

Once the Rockets and their Pokémon were asleep, Ash quickly used his twin bond to try and locate his sister. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He then got the feeling that she was inside the base, but was on the move. The issue he had, though, was that he did not know where she was. He soon searched for a computer. Finding one, he went over and turned it on. Immediately, a layout of the base appeared on the screen. He scanned it and found that Giovanni's office was located on the eleventh floor of the base. As soon as he saw that, an image appeared in his mind of Mia heading to the office as well. "She's likely on the eleventh floor," he told his Pokémon. "Let's go!" He then proceeded to make his way over to the stairwell.

Pikachu and Venusaur were quick to follow the boy as he went over to the entrance to the stairwell, shoved the door open, and went on through. Meanwhile, back on the floor, Aizen gave a dark smile. _So the boy doesn't have the stomach to kill us when we're down. Perhaps the situation can be salvaged for us after all_. He could only laugh as Ash had fallen for his telepathic manipulation. As he lay on the floor, a plan formed in his mind. He would make Ash regret not having killed the sleeping Rockets. After all, he had access to a large number of Legendary Pokémon.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Down in the lobby, the sleeping Rockets awakened a few minutes after Ash had managed to make his way past them. When they awakened, they looked around to see if there was any sign of Ash or his Pokémon. So far, there was no one besides them and Vice Executive of Battle Aizen. Aizen looked to have awakened before them and he bellowed, "Wake up everyone. The intruder got away."

The other Rockets shot up and immediately began searching the floor for any sign of where he may have gone. This caused Aizen to lift his eyes skyward and utter, "Ugh." Glaring at each of them, he pointed towards the stairwell, shouting, "His goal is Leaf."

The Rockets still did not seem to get what he was saying, prompting him to groan even louder. "Upstairs, you morons! He's gone upstairs!"

The Rockets then realized their mistake and said, "Oh, right."

The group of twenty Rockets was about to file out of the lobby when a quartet of humans along with several Pokémon came bursting through the lobby entrance. Aizen glowered at the group and seethed, "Oh great."

The other Rockets turned to face the humans as they arrived in the lobby. A few of the grunts recognized the faces of Dawn and May from pictures and advertisements that they had done while they were Pokémon Coordinators. They did not recognize Tracey or Delia at first, but they suspected that the woman that was with the children was likely Ash and Leaf's mother. They looked over at the stairwell and the elevator and, realizing that they would not have a choice but to fight the new arrivals.

Aizen took the lead and cried, "Okay everyone, we have to make a stand here. No one can get by us! We have to keep the children separate from their base of support."

"Right," cried the other Rockets.

The Rockets then released their Pokémon. Each Rocket had six Pokémon, meaning that they greatly outnumbered the Pokémon forces of Ash's friends, but their Pokémon mostly consisted of Koffings and Weezings, with a Machamp or two tossed in but a few of them had a more eclectic group of Pokémon including a Magmar, Electabuzz, and even a Lapras, a blue Loch Ness monster-like Pokémon. The Pokémon opened up on Ash's friends and their Pokémon. The deployed Pokémon, which consisted of Scizor, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Blaziken, and Delcatty, and they ordered the use of various ranged attacks to try to hold back the Rockets' attacks. The attacks collided and for the moment, it was a stalemate. This gave Delia and the others a chance to move. "Fall back!" Delia cried to the others. "It'll be suicide for us to stay here!"

She did not have to say it twice, for Tracey, May, and Dawn quickly followed her back outside the base. As soon as they were away, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Scizor, Blaziken, and Delcatty made one last push against the Rockets. There was a massive explosion, with most of the force of the explosion being pushed the Rockets' way. A large cloud of smoke was produced by the explosion and the Pokémon used that as cover to retreat back outside the base. While they retreated, the Rockets and their remaining Pokémon, since two Koffings and a Weezing had been taken down in the initial exchange, fired into the cloud in the hopes of hitting some of the enemy.

Once everyone was outside and they had formed up once more, Delia directed, "Okay everyone, get a ways away from the entrance and have all of your strong ranged attack Pokémon target the entrance. We want to be far enough from the base so that if they blow a wall out that the shrapnel won't hurt us, but we'll still be able to target them. If they aren't smart enough to blow out a wall, though, they'll certainly come through the entrance. Once a Rocket, Pokémon or otherwise, appears, open up on it. That entrance is a good chokepoint and we were lucky not to be shot to pieces when we fled."

The others looked at Delia wondering what was coming over her. They had never known her to sound like this at all. For a second she, too, wondered where these almost military style tactics were coming from. She did not dwell on it right now, though. She had more important things to worry about.

The group soon deployed all of their Pokémon for the battle and they formed squads. One squad consisted of Ash's remaining Pokémon that he had used during the Championship that were not currently with him: Serperior, Gigalith, Garchomp, Glalie, Infernape, Krookodile, Swellow, Staraptor, Scrafty, Talonflame, and Greninja, while the other squads consisted of each of the other Trainers' Pokémon respectively.

It was not long before the first Rocket came bursting through the entrance to the building. Ash's friends' Pokémon let loose with a vicious volley of attacks. Serperior, wanting to conserve energy, merely fired an Energy Ball at the Rocket Grunt. The Grunt sustained a direct hit from the Energy Ball, along with a Flamethrower from Infernape. The Rocket was set ablaze and ducked back inside the building, screaming.

Soon, the Lapras that had been deployed burst through, only to be felled by a Stone Edge barrage from Krookodile and a Discharge attack from Pachirisu. Lapras's body blocked the entrance to the building, which would have prevented the others from being able to enter the building, but the Rockets did not see the wisdom of letting Lapras remain there and creating a huge chokepoint for the allies. The unconscious Lapras was immediately called back into its Poké Ball and two Grunts rushed through along with two Koffings. The Grunts and Koffings were met by a deadly barrage of elemental attacks from Glalie, Infernape, and Blaziken. Delia also joined in, using her recently acquired Ray Gun on a Rocket Grunt that had pulled a weapon of his own and was taking aim at one of the party. She felled him with a single shot to the chest.

The party continued to mount a strong resistance and take down anyone that tried to leave the building and come after them. They hoped that the whole of Team Rocket would be focused on them, rather than on Ash, but they knew that they would be able to not hold out forever. They merely hoped that Cynthia and Lance would be able to report back to the League and get some Pokémon League reinforcements to track them so that they could stop Team Rocket. As it happened, another grunt tried to open fire on the group, getting off two shots, both misses, before being set ablaze by Blaziken. They knew that they would not hold out forever, but if they could hold out for long enough, and take down enough Rockets, then it would give Ash time to deal with Team Rocket's leader once and for all as well as find and rescue Mia. Aizen was the next to peer out the window, but he quickly ducked back inside in order to avoid a laser blast from Delia's Ray Gun. He gave a smirk, wondering how she had acquired such a weapon. It did not matter. His reinforcements had arrived, and soon, they would power their way through the exit and take the fight to the humans and their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Mia was ascending the stairwell, making her way up to the eleventh floor. For the first several floors, she encountered no resistance, but by the time she was coming upon the sixth floor, she came across several Rocket scientists that each had a Magnemite escorting them. They also carried briefcases that must have had important documents inside. Wasting no time, Mia pulled out two Poké Balls and cried, "Chandelure, Jolteon, go!"

The Poké Balls opened and out came Chandelure and Jolteon. He promptly unleashed a Flamethrower attack on the Magnemites, taking them down with a single hit. Meanwhile, Jolteon let loose a Thunderbolt and zapped the enemy scientists into unconsciousness. The still sparking bodies of the scientists fell tumbled down the stairs, causing Mia and Jolteon to sidestep them as they fell before she continued on her trek.

A couple floors up, she came across another source of resistance on the landing right next to the door that led to the eighth floor. This one came in the form of another Rocket Scientist that while Mia had no recollection of, she felt that Ash had known him from a previous adventure. The Rocket, Dr. Namba, a middle-aged man with orange hair on both sides of his head and a thick orange mustache, however, immediately recognized Mia and stammered, "You!"

Namba then grabbed a Poké Ball opened it, releasing Electabuzz. "Attack!" Namba commanded. "Use Thunder on that Chandelure! Then take out that girl!"

Mia had other ideas and glanced down at Chandelure, countering, "Chandelure, use Fire Blast on Electabuzz."

Chandelure gave a nod of affirmation and unleashed a massive Fire Blast on Electabuzz just as the Electric-type Pokémon unleashed a Thunder attack on him. The two attacks collided in midair, but the Fire Blast quickly pushed back the Thunder. After a few seconds, the human stick figure-like blast of fire struck Electabuzz and took him down with one hit. The Pokémon promptly fell to the floor, unconscious.

Namba grimaced at the sight and prepared to charge Mia himself. Just as he charged, though, a Thunderbolt from Jolteon struck him in the chest. He cried out in pain as electricity arced across his body and he convulsed. He was quickly rendered unconscious and tumbled down the steps until reaching the landing half a story below. Wasting no time, Mia continued her ascent.

Not far into her ascent, Mia was met by another group of Rockets. This time, a duo of Rockets came, flanking a Scientist. This Scientist was a high-ranking scientist in Team Rocket's Research Division known as Professor Sebastian. He had been second only to Gideon and Dr. Zager. Sebastian had dark gray hair, a pointy beard and wore what looked to be reading glasses. He had no Pokémon with him, but he was carrying a briefcase that contained important information. Flanking him were two Rocket Officers: the thin Rocket with long gray hair and gray eyes, wearing a gray Rocket uniform was named Hun, with the more muscular Officer with short blond hair and sunglasses wearing a gray Rocket vest over a blue muscle shirt was Attila. When they saw Mia, all they could do was almost moan, "Oh crud, not her," remembering a previous encounter with her in battle.

Once they entered the battle, they released their Pokémon, Steelix for Hun, with Skarmory and Muk being released for Attila. The officers and scientist also pulled out Ray Guns and took aim at Ash. They opened fire and green energy bolts sizzled by Mia, missing her head by inches. She immediately dove to the floor and crawled for cover. Her Pokémon also took cover by pinning themselves to the ground. The shots sailed over them.

Once the initial barrage was complete, Jolteon and Chandelure rose up and fired off their Thunderbolt and Flamethrower attacks respectively. They targeted the newly arrived Steelix and Skarmory first, wanting to take advantage of their own type advantage. The attacks collided with the Pokémon, taking them down with single hits. The two Pokémon then concentrated on the Muk, who launched a wave of sludge their way. Despite the enclosed space, the Sludge Wave was not effective since Chandelure used Psychic to divert it around the Pokémon, making it so that they suffered no damage. The Sludge Wave flowed around the psychic shield erected by Chandelure and broke upon the wall, then continued down the stairwell. This was unfortunate for a group of Team Rocket reinforcements as the wave of poisonous liquid washed over them, poisoning any who got it in their eyes, ears, or mouth, and carrying them back down the stairs. The Pokémon that were with them were also hit, with the Kadabra being poisoned in the process.

After the poisonous wave had subsided, Chandelure and Jolteon went back to work dealing with the Muk by unleashing a Flamethrower and Thunderbolt attack respectively. The two attacks converged on the Muk and were more than enough to knock it unconscious.

While Chandelure and Jolteon were dealing with Muk, Professor Sebastian, Attila and Hun went to draw their side arms so they could deal with Mia and her Pokémon directly, seeing that their Pokémon were of little worth against those of a Champion. Mia would not have any of that, though, and as they reached for their weapons, Mia lowered herself and charged into Hun, knowing that he would be the easiest of the three to deal with. She barreled into the Rocket and knocked him off his feet, his gun sliding out of the unbuttoned holster.

Attila and Sebastian, meanwhile, drew their guns and, noticing Mia wrestling with Hun, turned to shoot her. Mia, who was close to Professor Sebastian, swept her legs and knocked the Rocket scientist off of his feet. This, however, gave Hun the chance to get Mia off of him, which he quickly took. Hun thrust out his arms and shoved her off him. He rolled towards his Ray Gun, which was a few feet away, and went to pick it up. Just as he did so, and Attila had drawn a bead on Mia, a Thunderbolt from Jolteon struck the Scientist and two Officers and they cried out in pain, reflexively pulling the triggers of their guns, letting loose a trio green energy blasts, each of which went wide of their targets and gouged large holes in the wall and in one of the steps on the stairs. The Rockets soon fell to the ground and tumbled down the stairs, coming to rest on a landing. With the Scientist and the two Officers having been dealt with, Mia went down the stairs to grab a discarded Ray Gun. Once she had armed herself, she continued her ascent to the eleventh floor. Once she was at the eleventh floor, she noticed that the stairwell paused to catch her breath and prepare herself for the battle up ahead, for there was no way that Giovanni would be left unguarded. To that end, she deployed the rest of her Pokémon and told them, "This is it, everyone. This is the home stretch."

Each of her Pokémon nodded their heads and turned to the door, indicating that they were ready for whatever was on the other side. Then, wasting no time, she proceeded through the door, along with the rest of her team.

On the eleventh floor, just outside of Giovanni's office not too far away from Mia, Jessie, James, and Meowth stood on guard as they waited for the almost certain arrival of either Ash or Mia. When they saw the door to the stairwell open they immediately took defensive stances and gripped their Poké Balls. Soon, they saw Mia and her Pokémon friends emerge from the stairwell.

"You three," she growled in a low, cold voice. While she did not have Ash's past with the Trio, she still knew of the inconvenience that they had caused her twin brother and she was very eager to make them pay for their misdeeds.

Jessie and James grinned at the sight of Mia, with Jessie beginning their motto, "Prepare for…" but the motto was cut short by a Thunderbolt from Jolteon. She cried aloud in pain and then collapsed to the ground.

While Pikachu was shocking Jessie, the rest of Leaf's team surged through the door, prompting James to let out all of his Pokémon. Cofagrigus, Mr. Mime, Carnivine, Amoonguss, and Malamar came out and James cried, "Everyone, attack the twerpette and her Pokémon! Take her down before she can get an attack off!"

Before they could attack, though, Mia's Pokémon initiated their own attacks. Jolteon fired a Signal Beam at Malamar, taking it down before it could even get off a Psybeam or Dark Pulse. Chandelure then fried Amoonguss and Carnivine, sweeping a Flamethrower attack all over them. Tyranitar and Garchomp then finished off Cofagrigus and Mr. Mime with two Stone Edge barrages, knocking out the Pokémon with single hits. Starmie and Venusaur merely sighed as the other four Pokémon finished off James's Pokémon, their services not being needed yet. However, though, they would get their chance soon, for Jessie was recovering from her shock.

Once Jessie had recovered, she shot up and joined the battle, unleashing her Pokémon into the fray. Gourgeist, a black pumpkin-like Pokémon with two short, stubby feet and eyes and a mouth on it stalk; Swoobat, Seviper, Yanmega, Jellicent, and Wobbuffet all emerged from their Poké Balls and focused on Mia's Pokémon. Mia, knowing that Wobbuffet could be trouble with its Counter and Mirror Coat ability glanced over at Venusaur and smiled.

Venusaur gave grin and unleashed a massive Sleep Powder cloud on Wobbuffet while Starmie and Jolteon fried Swoobat, Yanmega, and Jellicent with two Thunderbolt attack, the attacks being sufficient to take down the three Pokémon without issue. As for Wobbuffet, Jessie saw the cloud coming and ordered, "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" She figured that since it was a ranged technique that Sleep Powder would count as a Special technique.

A white, reflective glow surrounded Wobbuffet as it used Mirror Coat, however, Jessie would soon be in for a shock as the Sleep Powder cloud was not reflected back towards Venusaur or any of Mia's Pokémon. That was when Jessie learned that status moves were not affected by moves like Counter or Mirror Coat. As such, when the Sleep Powder cloud made contact with Wobbuffet, the Pokémon quickly growing drowsy before falling asleep in front of Jessie.

Once Wobbuffet had fallen asleep, Chandelure and Jolteon fired Shadow Balls to knock out the Pokémon, leaving on Seviper and Gourgeist to deal with. Jessie, seething at how her Pokémon were looking like jokes against Mia, cried, "Seviper, use Poison Tail on that Jolteon! Gourgeist, use Shadow Ball on that Chandelure!"

Before they could launch their attacks, though, Jolteon used Thunderbolt to take down Seviper with a single hit while Chandelure dealt with Gourgeist by unleashing its Fire Blast on the Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon. The Fire Blast instantly overpowered Gourgeist's Shadow Ball, dispersing it on contact and continued until it hit Gourgeist, taking it down. That left only Meowth, along with Jessie and James.

Meowth's eyes went wide with shock and horror at the power demonstrated by Mia and her Pokémon. He promptly began to back away from the girl and her team as they neared. He stopped as he bumped into Jessie, who looked down at him, gritting her teeth, and telling him, "What are you doing? Take her!"

"Are you nuts?" Meowth retorted. "She'll kill me!"

Jessie was about to disagree as she, James, and Meowth were then fried by two Thunderbolts launched by Jolteon and Starmie. The three gave brief cries before they fell to the floor, unconscious. She then looked down at the fallen trio and their Pokémon and scoffed. She could see why Ash did not have her harsh view of Team Rocket. These three "Agents" were pathetic jokes. Now came the question of what she would do with them. The prudent thing to do would be to kill them so that they would not cause more trouble later on. However, she could not help but notice that they did not seem to be much like the other Rockets that she had encountered. While she surely did not view them as good, they had assisted her brother on occasion against greater evils. And besides, they were already beaten and they were also not nearly as evil as the rest of Team Rocket. The Trio may have been salvageable. As such, she shook her head walked past them, letting them live.

"Venu?" Venusaur asked, shocked that Mia had let them live.

Mia looked back at Venusaur and smiled. "Maybe my brother's rubbing off on me a bit."

"Venusaur saur saur venu venusaur?" came Venusaur's next question.

"I still won't do it; not like this," Mia answered. "Ash is worried about the darkness in me and I can't say I blame him. Besides, they're not like the other Rockets we've battled in the past. These three can still be saved. Just this once, I'm going to let them live; and hope I don't come to regret it," she added under her breath. She then shifted her line of thought. "Come on," she told her team. "We have to find Giovanni and finish this once and for all." She then continued down the corridor, searching for Giovanni's office so she could end this conflict once and for all.

Back in his office, Giovanni heard the sounds of battle erupting outside his office. Knowing that the time had come and that he had to retreat, he rose from his desk and glanced over to Persian. He went over to a bookcase and scanned it for a few moments. He soon found a conspicuous book and pulled it out. As he did so, a secret panel retracted from the wall and opened. Before leaving, though, Giovanni went over to his desk one more time and grabbed his briefcase. Then, Pokémon and master then rushed through the secret door and into a room with a single glowing panel. Before stepping on the panel, he went to the wall and pushed a single button, closing the door. He did not know how long this would delay Mia, but every second he managed to delay her would give him a chance to engage her on his terms should she manage to catch up to him. Once the door was closed, he and Persian stepped on the glowing panel and then disappeared.

Back outside the base, Delia, Tracey, May, and Dawn stared down Team Rocket as members of the Pokémon League came onto the scene. Delia stepped forward and declared, "Let us through now. I have to get to my children."

Aizen and the other Rockets grinned at them. "We can't do that," one of them replied in gravely voice. "We can't let you interrupt your our boss's meeting with your kids."

Delia gritted her teeth and looked over at the Pokémon League forces that had entered. They had yet to make a move. Meanwhile, several Rockets and their Pokémon were about to attack, and even shoot at the group, when Blaziken and Pachirisu stopped them, unleashing a Flamethrower and Discharge attack upon them, respectively. Two Rocket Grunts were set ablaze, along with a Scientist, and the cried out and writhed as they burned. Pachirisu's Discharge took down their Koffings and Weezings with single hits. The attack caused several of the other Rockets to retreat from the fighting, but others were more willing to stand their ground. The remaining Grunts and Rocket Pokémon tried to launch another attack, but Ash's team quickly dealt with them, using a variety of attacks to finish off the Pokémon and Grunts. Soon, she heard a voice from behind state, "Delia Ketchum, you and your companions must stand down immediately."

The request shocked the entire group. "What?" they each blurted at the sound of the voice.

The group looked behind them and found a group of what looked to be Pokémon League officials standing there, glaring at them. The Pokémon League troopers then declared in unison. "Your attack on this base is illegal and must cease immediately. We have been authorized to use deadly force in apprehending you should you resist. You will surrender to our custody now or we will be forced to use…more forceful means of gaining your compliance."

The leader then motioned towards the troopers who drew out not only their Poké Balls, but also energy pistols as well. The others then put their guns to the heads of May, Dawn, and Tracey. Despite the threat to May, Dawn, and Tracey, Delia knew that the real threat was being made to Ash and Mia.

Soon, the Poké Balls of six the Pokémon League troopers were let out of their Poké Balls. A group of Psychic-type Pokémon, mostly Hypnos and Alakazams, but also including a Latias, a female bird-like Dragon/Psychic-type Pokémon with a white upper half and a red lower half with red jet-plane wings, stood over the other Pokémon. Several more Pokémon came out of the Poké Balls of the other troopers, including a Salamence, Garchomp, the pink Egg-like Chansey, and a blue and black bipedal jackal-like Pokémon called Lucario, just to name a few. The other Pokémon turned to see the surviving Rockets and their own Pokémon approaching, too. They realized that there was little chance of them being able to beat both Team Rocket and the Pokémon League troopers, assuming they _were_ Pokémon League forces.

Studying the Pokémon League troopers, she noticed that they all had undershirts on beneath their uniforms. She could make out a rounded red arch on those undershirts that reminded her of the top part of a red R. They were not Pokémon League troopers at all. They were Team Rocket. Her hypothesis was proven when two of the League Troopers removed their uniforms and revealed themselves to be Butch and Cassidy, the two of them standing near Dawn and May respectively. Looking behind them, the group could also make out the four additional Rockets.

Delia saw that the troopers were quite serious. Butch, the one near Dawn, looked to be close to pulling the trigger. "Wait!" she called.

Butch then relaxed his grip on the laser gun. "What is your decision?" the leader asked, flanked by Salamence and Latias.

Seeing that the fight was an unwinnable one, or that even if they did win, that there would be tremendous losses on either side, with the Tracey, May, and Dawn almost certainly dying or being severely injured, Delia answered, "We surrender," glancing downward, holding back tears. The others were shocked at the surrender, but they quickly realized why she had done so. There was no way for them to win this fight. However, it _would_ give them a chance to get to Ash and Mia. And if they could get to them alive, then they would start the revolt and hopefully take down Team Rocket once and for all. She looked to her left and saw Greninja and Krookodile out of the corner of her eye. Both Pokémon indicated that they were ready to launch a surprise attack, but Delia shook her head, warning them off. She did not want to risk the lives of anyone else, and if things got worse, she knew that they would be in a position to help Ash and/or rescue them since they would not have been accounted for by Team Rocket or the Pokémon League forces.

The Pokémon League squad leader then stepped forward and removed his uniform, revealing himself to be a Team Rocket officer. The other "Pokémon League" soldiers did the same. He then motioned for a trio of Rocket grunts to step forward. "Bind their hands," he directed. "Make sure that they can't resist and make sure that their Pokémon are locked away in their Poké Balls. We can't afford to let them get out."

The Grunt grinned and then hit Tracey hard on the back of the head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious. Delia and May went to run forward, but were psychically restrained by an Alakazam. Blaziken prepared to launch a Flamethrower towards the Grunt, while Pachirisu attempted to launch an attack, but was taken down by a single Psychic by Latias. Meanwhile, a Hypno appeared in front of Blaziken and swung his pendulum in front of his eyes, using Hypnosis to put the chicken-like Pokémon to sleep. Blaziken struggled against the attack for a moment, but eventually, he succumbed and fell asleep. The Grunts then picked the Poké Balls out of the pockets of the group and recalled each of their Pokémon, all except Greninja and Krookodile, both of who remained out of sight.

As soon as the Pokémon were recalled, the troopers placed a sticker on the buttons of each Poké Ball. Delia could tell, though, that the stickers were more than just stickers. They were seals. The squad went over to the humans and led them to the helicopter, some of them shoving the group forcefully onto the aircraft. Delia noticed one of the Rockets, Aizen, head back into the base. The other Rocket Grunts were talking amongst themselves, laughing and joking.

"Man, if you guys hadn't arrived when you did in the manner you did, we'd have suffered far greater losses," one of the Grunts told the newcomers.

"Yeah, and I'll make sure you repay the debt," the leader of the new wave of Rocket Grunts replied jovially.

The group soon started shoving the captives onto the helicopter. Delia was the last to be forced on, two Rockets being required to push her on. "Don't be such a jerk about this, babe," one of them mocked. "Your greatest wish is about to be fulfilled."

Delia doubted that as the Rockets unceremoniously shoved her onboard. She tripped over the step and fell onto the helicopter floor, prompting the Rockets to laugh. As soon as everyone was onboard, the door closed. Staring at one of the Rockets that wore a white shirt with a stylized R on the left breast of the shirt, Delia angrily asked "Where are you taking us?"

"To see your children," came the response, a little too quickly for her liking as the helicopter lifted off from the ground. "You still have a chance to keep them, and yourself, alive."

Meanwhile, Lance and Cynthia were making their way to the World Pokémon League Headquarters on Indigo Plateau. The fact that they were flying on their Dragon-type Pokémon made it a short trip. As the Poké Ball shaped roof of the headquarters came into view, they made their descent. As they descended, they noticed more guards than usual stationed outside the headquarters, something that puzzled them.

When they landed, they dismounted their Pokémon and made their way to the walkway that led to the headquarters. As they approached the building, they glanced at their surroundings and saw the guards and other personnel outside the building glancing at them curiously. At first, they thought that the people were just surprised that they had not returned their Dragonite and Garchomp to their Poké Balls, but upon further examination, the people seemed a little more apprehensive and even began glancing at each other, as if wondering what they should do.

As they approached the doors to the headquarters, they were met by two guards dressed in ornate gold armor with spears and Poké Balls clipped to their belts. As they approached, the two guards held out their hands, commanding, "State your identification."

This puzzled Lance and Cynthia, for their likenesses were plastered all over the headquarters and they were very well known Champions. Still, they indulged the guards. "Lance," came Lance's answer.

"Cynthia," came Cynthia's.

After giving their answer, the guards waited for a moment, holding up a device that looked similar to an Earth twenty-first century smartphone. Eventually, they nodded. "Voice match and retinal scan confirmed. Welcome to Pokémon League Headquarters Lance and Cynthia."

"Thank you," Lance answered with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"We're glad you made it here so quickly. We were not expecting you for another fifteen minutes or so."

Ignoring the guard's comment, Cynthia asked, "Is there any reason why security is this tight?"

"We're implementing new security protocols," the guard answered. "It will keep the League Headquarters safer. We also needed to be absolutely sure that it was you. We can't afford to have any spies using Dittos or other means of deception manage to enter the League headquarters and gather intelligence on our activities."

Lance and Cynthia were not completely satisfied with their answers but they offered no further question and went to make their way inside the building, but the guards did not budge. "We're sorry," one of the guards began. "But before you enter, you will have to return your Dragonite and Garchomp to their Poké Balls."

"Why's that?" Lance and Cynthia asked in unison.

"It's part of the new security procedures," the guards answered. "And it's also because they're so big. We want the League headquarters to look pristine."

Lance and Cynthia glanced at each other, each glance echoing the other's concern. Still, they did as they were bade and returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls. However, they made certain to ensure that the locks did not activate so that their Pokémon could hear what was going on in the outside world and come out without having to be called if they were needed. Once they had returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls, they entered the building.

Inside the building, they walked down a long corridor that was lined with a red carpet with statues and pictures on each wall to the sides of the two Elite Trainers. The majesty of the statues, paintings, and general ambiance held no sway over the two trainers. They were here simply to meet with the President of the World Pokémon League and apprise him of the situation regarding Team Rocket and come up with a strategy to counter them. Statues of previous champions from the beginning of the Pokémon League sitting on columns lined the walls creating a corridor for the duo to walk through. There were several doors on each side, each one having a guard standing next to it, each guard being equipped with six Poké Balls. Both Lance and Cynthia began to grow concerned, for the arming of the guards indicated that the League was getting ready for a battle.

As Lance and Cynthia glanced at the statues, they noticed that two of the columns that the columns had no statue on them, something that puzzled them since Ash had only become the Champion early in the afternoon, so Mia's image as well as that of another individual was also missing. While it may have been that they had not gotten around to getting Mia's statue up, she did not like getting a ton of publicity, they were still curious as to why that was the case. They would ask about it later, though. Right now, they had to make their report to League President Mercier.

The duo soon reached a door at the end of the hallway. The door was flanked by two guards and a keypad. The guards, seeing the two approach and recognizing who they were, stood aside for the two World Elite Four members. Cynthia quickly stepped up and entered the combination for the door. After doing so, the door slid open and granted both champions entry. Once they had entered, the door promptly slid shut once more.

The interior of the room furnished with a huge table that had no less than a dozen chairs at it. On the wall at the other end of the room was a large HD TV screen on the wall. The moment Lance and Cynthia entered the room, the screen immediately turned on with a flash and a red screen met them. After a few seconds, a feminine monotone voice from the screen told them, "Identify for retina scan."

"Lance," came Lance's answer.

"Cynthia," Cynthia answered.

A light emerged from the screen and scanned their retinas and almost instantly, the voice stated, "Identification confirmed. Welcome Champions Lance and Cynthia."

The screen then went blank for a second before it came to life once more, the face of a man appearing on the screen. He had brown hair and green eyes and wore a Pokémon League uniform with the emblem of the Pokémon League emblazoned on the left breast of his uniform. Lance and Cynthia instantly recognized the man as being Jean Mercier, the President of the World Pokémon League Committee. After the President appeared on the screen, the President's face burst into a seemingly welcoming grin.

"Excellent, you made it!" he exclaimed. "Thank you for coming so quickly. We have much to discuss and not a lot of time to do it." Mercier then gave a pause before he continued, "We face a grave danger."

"What danger is that?" Lance asked. "Is Team Rocket planning something?"

Mercier shook his head. "No," he answered. "It's not Team Rocket we have to worry about. In fact, they may be able to help us."

"Team Rocket? Help us?" Cynthia nearly gasped, dumbfounded. "They launched a full-scale assault on the Champion's birthday party. They nearly killed his mother! Why would we entertain the idea of associating ourselves with them?"

"Because we have no other choice," Mercier stated plainly. "United Earth and the Galactic Federation are recovering from the Galactic Federation Civil War sooner than anticipated and are placing the Pokémon League under tighter scrutiny. It won't be long before they make a move against us."

"The only reason the Federation or United Earth would move against us is if we side with a known criminal organization," Lance retorted.

"This is madness," Cynthia declared, echoing Lance's sentiment. "Team Rocket needs to be destroyed."

"Unfortunately, they have something we need for the upcoming conflict," Mercier answered.

"I've heard enough. I'm leaving," Lance declared.

With that, he made his way over to the door, Cynthia following him closely. As they approached the door, though, it did not slide back to let them pass. Instead, a click could be heard. The duo grimaced. Lance went over to the control panel and input the combination to open the door, but it merely beeped and the door did not budge, all buttons turning red, indicating that an improper code was entered.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to leave just yet," Mercier said in a melancholy tone. "I had hoped that we could avoid conflict, but it appears as if the likelihood of that is dwindling. Still, before you make your final decision, you must learn all of the facts and the reason why the League came to this decision."

"Charles Goodshow would not condone siding with Team Rocket!" Cynthia blurted.

"Charles Goodshow isn't the World Pokémon League President right now," Mercier retorted just as loudly. "I am!" He then gave himself a couple moments to cool off before continuing, "Anyway, there is much you need to know, particularly about the origins of Pokémon. Only then will you understand the reason we have taken such drastic action."

Back on the eleventh floor of Team Rocket Headquarters, Mia burst through the entrance to Giovanni's office and scanned its interior. She scowled when he found no sign of Giovanni inside. She grimaced as she considered the possibility that Giovanni had managed to sneak away during the fight. Given that the fighting had been loud, she doubted that Giovanni would have used the front exit to his office. He likely had a secret exit to the room that would take him to another sector of the base where he could get to a helicopter or some other type of aircraft. Scanning the room, she looked for anything suspicious that might look like secret exit. She saw a suspicious area on the wall behind the desk but could see no panel for retracting any door. After a bit of searching the rest of the room, she came upon a bookcase that had a suspicious looking book that fit tightly in the bookcase, but seemed to be tilted forward a bit. She pulled it and in the back of the room, a panel retreated and revealed the secret doorway. Mia stepped through the doorway and saw a glowing panel on the floor. Not bothering to close the door, she stepped on the panel and was whisked to one of the wings of the base.

She reappeared in a narrow corridor that appeared to be deserted. Behind her, a wall cut off all other avenues of escape. Wasting no time, she charged down the corridor.

On the other side of the corridor, Giovanni rushed towards a large set of doors. Standing guard were two men in old uniforms that looked similar to Roman centurions. Each of them also held a halberd with energy projectors built inside of them. Looking at the two guards, he said, "You two stand here and wait. Leaf and her Pokémon are coming. Try to stall them."

"Understood, sir," came their response as they then stood at attention, preparing to intercept Ash. As Giovanni pushed the doors open, he heard a voice come in on all speakers, "Security alert," the voice of Chief of Security Joe Marsden reported. "Intruders have entered from the main lobby. Our forces are being overrun. All available Rockets are to report to the lobby immediately.

Giovanni grimaced. The last thing he needed was to lose more Rockets, especially since whatever forces were down there would likely not last long enough to be reinforced by the forces in other sectors. Giovanni then took out a cell phone-like device and spoke into it, saying, "This is Giovanni to all Team Rocket personnel. We have been breached. Get to your battle stations at once."

As soon as he had given the order, the lights dimmed and a reddish hue could be seen throughout the hall, as well as the entire base. He then dialed a number on the cell phone and began to speak. "Gideon, what is the status of Genesect?"

"It's not ready yet, sir," came Gideon response. "It's revived but it'll be about a half hour or so before we can have it ready for battle."

"We don't have a few minutes!" Giovanni blurted. "Leaf's right behind me! How long until you'll be ready to take your team to Goldenrod City to upload that code?"

"At least a half hour," Gideon answered. "We're going as fast as possible, but it will still be quite a while before we're even able to test it. What are your orders?"

Giovanni grimaced. That was not what he wanted to hear. His strongest Legendary Pokémon was still at least a few minutes away and Leaf was not far behind. She would likely catch him well before Genesect was ready. Eventually, he told Gideon, "Get out of here now and make sure that you take the Badge Amplifier with you. Before that, though, give Dr. Zager the code and tell him to go to our hideout in Mahogany Town to take aboard the operatives that will carry out the mission in Goldenrod City. Tell him to take everything he thinks he'll need. Things are getting bad, here. Make sure you keep a copy of the program here on the off chance that Dr. Zager fails. Tell him that once the program is ready, he go to Goldenrod City to proceed with the attack as quickly as possible. We don't have a lot of time."

"Understood," Gideon answered.

With that, Giovanni charged through the doors and headed to his helicopter, which was already beginning its startup sequence. He knew that his guards would not hold off Mia for long. He then ran towards the helicopter, which was now opening its doors, hoping to reach it and evacuate before he was caught.

Not too far away, Mia ran down the corridor, chasing down Giovanni. The two guards, who were supposed to stop her stood by the door. They were wearing ornate clothing that made them look like guards for Egyptian Pharaohs. They quickly drew a type of weapon that looked like an old Super Nintendo Super Scope and tried to draw a bead on Mia. Suddenly, Starmie burst forth from its Poké Ball and quickly spun in the air, powering a Thunderbolt attack. It unleashed it upon the two guards and quickly felled them, electricity arcing across their bodies as they fell unconscious. Not stopping to question why they did not have any Pokémon of their own, Mia and her Pokémon rushed past the fallen guards, following after Giovanni.

Meanwhile, Giovanni and his Persian were running as quickly as possible to get to that helicopter before Mia caught up to them. The helicopter was a twin rotored behemoth that had a chain gun mounted on its belly for defense. Giovanni and Persian were within a few dozen yards when a bolt of lightning flashed past Giovanni's face and hit the helicopter squarely in the cockpit, causing electricity to arc across the vehicle. The lightning bolt fried all of the electronics onboard the vehicle, making it nothing more than a massive paperweight.

"Surrender now Giovanni," Giovanni heard Mia call to him. "Your helicopter is nothing more than a paperweight, your guards are beaten, and we're blocking the only exit."

He stared at the girl and her Pokémon, each of who were outside of their Poké Balls and ready to fight if it came down to it. Still, he did not back down, only staring right back at Mia and grinning evilly.

"It's over Giovanni," Mia reiterated. "There's nowhere for you to go." While she tried to make it sound as if she were sincere, which she was, to an extent, she knew that Giovanni would refuse and that she would have to battle the Team Rocket Boss.

Giovanni was unfazed by her declaration, though. "No," he answered with an evil grin. "Besides, there is still something that I can do," he countered. He then placed the briefcase at his side and grinned, saying, "Let's end this the way it should end." Standing tall and taking out a Poké Ball from his pocket, he held it out in front of him and proclaimed, "Leaf, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

This declaration shocked Mia. Of all the things she would have expected, this was the last. She looked over and saw two people, one male, the other, female, come out onto the pad from the disabled helicopter wearing Roman style armor. Surprisingly, they were not making any moves against her. They had not even deployed their Pokémon, assuming they had any. She then noticed that their armor had the Pokémon League insignia on it. One of them, the female, then turned to her, and then to Giovanni. "He may be Team Rocket's leader, but he is still a Pokémon Trainer," she said in a hushed tone towards her companion. "As is Leaf."

"I agree," the male official said, nodding. "Their dispute must be settled the way it always has been."

"What?" both Mia and Giovanni called out in shock, albeit for different reasons.

"He's a criminal and has authorized the murders of humans and Pokémon alike!" Mia cried.

"She is an enemy to Team Rocket and has attacked our base," Giovanni countered.

"Yes," the man began, "but you are both Pokémon Trainers, and the laws of the Pokémon World state all disputes between Pokémon Trainers are settled by means of a Pokémon battle. If either of you refuses to fight, that will count as a forfeit. Do you still wish to battle?"

"Yes," Mia blurted in a serious tone with a note of suspicion. She looked at the officials suspiciously. They were almost certainly members of Team Rocket. Yet, they were giving her a hand, allowing this battle to take place. She could not figure out why they were allowing this battle to commence. She quickly went on guard, expecting there to be traps and for Giovanni to cheat.

The officials then proclaimed, "The Pokémon battle between former Pokémon League World Champion Leaf and former Viridian City Gym Leader and current Team Rocket Leader Giovanni is about to begin. The rules shall be decided by the two Trainers. If Leaf wins, then Giovanni must surrender himself to the Pokémon League to face trial for his alleged crimes. Should Giovanni win, though, he and the rest of Team Rocket shall go free and may deal with Leaf as he sees fit. Any questions?"

They had none. Giovanni then declared, "This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit. World Pokémon League Championship rules apply. No two Pokémon may be asleep or frozen at the same time. No two Pokémon may be of the same species, either. Neither Trainer may enter the battle and fight directly. Only one Mega Evolution will be allowed for each Trainer. Any objections?" He grinned as he asked her the question.

Mia returned his grin. "No objections," she called out.

"Then let the battle begin!" the two League officials declared.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Giovanni began the battle by tossing his first Poké Ball into the air. Once it was at the crest of its rise, the ball opened and a blue blob of energy came forth and landed on the ground in front of him. The energy soon formed into a Golem, a round brown Pokémon that looked like a boulder with arms and legs. As soon as it appeared on the battlefield, it gave the cry, "Golem!"

Mia responded by tossing out a Poké Ball, crying, "Starmie, stand by for battle!"

Starmie emerged from its Poké Ball and landed right in front of Mia. She immediately noticed Giovanni's grin as Starmie was chosen. That told her all that he needed to know about his strategy. He was going to set up Stealth Rock and rely on Golem's Sturdy special ability to survive Starmie's Water-type attack. She decided to throw him for a loop and she declared, "Since you challenged me, Giovanni, I'll give you the first move."

This declaration took Giovanni off guard and she stared back at Mia with a look of surprise on his face, as well as a little bit of concern. She must have figured out his strategy and he began to sweat. Giovanni knew that Chandelure would be the only Pokémon that would take super effective damage from Stealth Rock, but the other Pokémon could be swayed from switching in and out if it was still in play. It was a minor advantage, but it was one that he felt could be the turning point of the battle. To make things even more worrisome, all reports indicated that Leaf was not using her normal strategy, which was, ironically enough, the very strategy that Giovanni was currently employing. Still, he had to do something, and he knew that if he tried to attack Starmie with Earthquake, that it might just float over the attack and use its psychic powers to remain in the air while the Earthquake took its course. To that end, he decided that it would be best to try his original strategy and hope that Mia would be impatient and go for the quick knock out. "Golem, use Stealth Rock!" he commanded, pointing at his Pokémon.

Golem gave a cry and several silver glitters emerged from Golem's back and began to revolve around it. The glitters grew in size until they became massive rocks. The rocks then embedded themselves in the ground. Mia merely smiled as Starmie spun around as it swept along the surface of the helipad and cleared away the Stealth Rock. As Starmie sailed over the rocks, the rocks erupted from the pad, only to be broken apart by the starfish-like Pokémon's spinning. Starmie did not stop until it hit Golem squarely in the face, causing the boulder-like Pokémon to recoil and issue a grunt. Still, the Rapid Spin did next to no damage to the part Rock-type Pokémon.

"Don't back down!" Giovanni cried, annoyed that Golem seemed to feel the attack. "Use Stone Edge!"

A ring of gray stones soon surrounded Golem as it gave a cry and raised its hands. Starmie quickly returned to Mia's side of the battlefield and landed. Without missing a beat, Starmie took aim at Golem and unleashed a torrent of water right towards the large Rock/Ground-type Pokémon just as Golem launched its Stone Edge barrage. The flood of water blew through the stones, knocking them aside and some of them were even redirected back at Golem. The Hydro Pump continued on towards Golem, hitting the boulder-like Pokémon squarely in the center of mass, which also happened to be where its head was, too. Having a quadruple weakness to Water-type attacks doomed Golem since it had already taken a hit from Rapid Spin and the force of the water's impact caused it to roll backwards towards Giovanni, eventually coming to a stop at his feet, where it remained still, having been knocked unconscious. "Golem is unable to battle. Starmie is the winner," the officials declared, holding up their left hands and pointing towards Starmie.

Giovanni gritted his teeth as he scowled. He could not believe that a Pokémon with Sturdy could be taken out with one hit, even if Hydro Pump was not a one-hit K.O. move. He then remembered the Rapid Spin that Starmie had used and he growled. That had been Leaf's plan all along. She must have known that he was going to set up Stealth Rock the moment he sent out Golem. She allowed him to get the first move so he could waste it on Stealth Rock, which she would clear away with Rapid Spin, which would continue as it also hit Golem. After his initial plan failed, had been banking on the fact that Stone Edge would manage to get through to inflict some serious, if not fatal, damage on Starmie, with Golem surviving Starmie's counterattack. However, while using Rapid Spin, Starmie had landed a blow on Golem, inflicting minimal damage, but doing enough so that Sturdy would no longer come into play. It was a smart, and also obvious in hindsight, strategy.

Giovanni pulled out his Poké Ball and called back Golem. He then grabbed another ball and tossed it into the air. The next Pokémon to emerge was Electivire. He grinned as he knew that Leaf's likely counter to Electivire would be either Garchomp or Tyranitar; and when she sent out her next Pokémon, it would be in for a big surprise. Sure enough, the next Pokémon that Mia sent out was Garchomp. He then yelled to Electivire, "Electivire, use Ice Punch!"

Electricity crackled between its antennae as it began to charge towards Garchomp. As it charged, it drew back its fist, a white glow surrounding it along with some snowflakes. Garchomp looked sternly at the approaching Electric-type as Mia simply smiled and nodded.

Garchomp then stomped the ground and the entire pad began to shake and Giovanni staggered backwards a few steps, struggling to maintain his footing. Even the officials had a hard time maintaining their footing. The same could not be said about Mia, though, who stood tall through the entire attack. Electivire, however, had the most difficult time maintaining its balance during the attack. Being an Electric-type hurt as well since it was weak to Ground-type attacks, which Earthquake was. As a result, the move took down Electivire in one hit. "Electivire is unable to battle. Garchomp is the winner!" cried the officials.

Giovanni gritted his teeth and began to look concerned. He had lost two Pokémon in rapid succession and Mia's Pokémon had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat against him. His Pokémon were like children going up against adults. Before choosing his next Pokémon, he carefully went over all of his options and plans, realizing that this next battle would be crucial.

Meanwhile, down in the lower levels of the base, Ash made his way towards the stairwell that would hopefully take him up to Mia. He soon found the stairwell and stopped for a second, prompting his Pokémon to stop with him. He then stood perfectly still and closed her eyes, his twin bond with Mia flaring. He soon got the sensation that she was at the top of the base, battling Giovanni. She did not seem to be in danger, but he did not want to take any chances. Wasting no time, he ran into the stairwell and ascended the stairs. As he was running, Pikachu and Charizard came up behind him, asking a question of him in their own language. He did not need a Pokédex translation to know what they were asking.

"Mia is at the top of the building battling Giovanni," he told them. "We have to get to her as quickly as possible."

Charizard soon grunted another question. Ash almost frowned, knowing exactly what he was asking. "It's not that simple," he answered. "Yes she managed to beat Giovanni numerous times before. But doesn't mean that she'll beat Giovanni this time. First off, there are likely going to be a lot of Rockets going up to support Giovanni. Second of all, Giovanni will have likely planned for this scenario. He'll have set traps for her."

Pikachu then issued a statement in a reassuring tone using his name numerous times. Ash smiled. "I know, Pikachu. She'll likely beat Giovanni. It's what will happen after that concerns me."

The two soon made their way to the end of the stairwell, which was stated to end at the second level. He turned to his right and headed towards the door, peering through the glass window to see if there were any Rockets in his line of sight. Seeing none, he pulled the door open and rushed on in, peering down the corridor. He soon stepped out into the open, followed by Pikachu and Charizard. He turned to the right and led the way, with Pikachu joining him in the lead, and with Charizard bringing up the rear, looking backwards to make sure that they were not attacked from behind.

The trio quickly made their way down the hall, wanting to reach the next stairwell as quickly as possible. Ash wanted to reach Mia quickly, for he had a bad feeling that something was about to happen and that Team Rocket was not reeling as much as he, and Mia, had initially thought. As he made his way down the hall, whenever he came to a fork in the path, Pikachu and Charizard would scan to the right and left in order to make sure that no one was in those other corridors waiting to ambush them.

Eventually, the group spied a stairwell off in the distance. As they neared it, though, they saw the door begin to slide open. Emerging from the door was a single Rocket Grunt. Not wanting to risk a lengthy Pokémon Battle, Ash told Pikachu, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the Rocket!"

Pikachu complied and electricity crackled around his cheeks for the brief moment before he unleashed his Thunderbolt on the Rocket. The Rocket, who was shocked to see that Ash had made it as far as he had, was slow to react and grab his Poké Balls and gun, too slow for Pikachu's Thunderbolt instantly struck the Rocket and rendered him unconscious, electricity arcing across his body. With the Rocket having been dealt with for the time being, Ash proceeded through the door and entered the stairwell, Pikachu jumping onto his shoulder and Charizard bringing up the rear, ready to incinerate anyone who dared to follow them.

Meanwhile, back on the helipad near the roof of the base, Giovanni sent out his third Pokémon. "Go Cloyster!" he cried. The Poké Ball opened and out came a clam-like Pokémon with a spiky purple shell that opened horizontally with a black spherical head in the center. As it emerged from its Poké Ball, it landed and cried, "Cloyster," in a deep voice with an echo.

Mia pulled out Garchomp's Poké Ball and returned the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon to it. Next, she took out a Poké Ball and tossed it onto the battlefield. "You're up next, Jolteon," Mia said, pointing at Cloyster. "Go!"

Jolteon gave a cry and rushed onto the battlefield, electricity crackling about his cheeks. Giovanni began the next battle by crying, "Cloyster, use Shell Smash!" He knew that freezing the ground in front of Jolteon to keep it from moving would not be wise since Jolteon could easily attack from range.

Cloyster's head began to glow white and the glow soon began to expand to the rest of the body. Red cracks soon formed on Cloyster's body and the energy soon came off the oyster-like Pokémon's body as if they had been pieces of the shell. While Cloyster had used Shell Smash, Jolteon unleashed a Thunderbolt on the Water/Ice-type Pokémon. The bolt of lightning erupted from Jolteon's spiked hair and scored a direct hit on Cloyster. The large clam-like Pokémon gave a cry of pain as it was hit and electricity arced across its body. Since Cloyster's Special Defense was not nearly as strong as its normal Defense, it was taken down with the single Thunderbolt before it could launch any attacks of its own. The Pokémon fell to its side and swirls appeared in its eyes, signifying that it could no longer battle.

"Cloyster is unable to battle. Jolteon is the winner!" the officials called. However, their voices seemed to express shock at the ease with which Mia and her Pokémon friends were slaughtering Giovanni's team, something that she was quick to notice.

Across the helipad, Giovanni could only stare in shock at the power of Mia's Pokémon. He knew that they were powerful; he had faced them before, but this was something else. They were taking his Pokémon down with single hits and little more than single hits. He had to do something fast or this battle would end in disaster, even should his backup plan come into play. Before deploying his next Pokémon, he stooped down and opened his briefcase. He reached in and pulled out a device that looked like it was designed to be worn around the wrist. He quickly put the device over his left wrist and stood up, facing the boy once more. Mia recognized this as a Wonder Launcher and prepared for Giovanni to unveil a trap. Looking over to Giovanni, she called, "Giovanni, remember that Pokémon League rules stipulate that we need to agree before the battle to allow the use of the Wonder Launcher."

Giovanni ignored Mia's remark and gripped his next Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. Out came Tauros. Tauros landed next to the fallen Cloyster, who Giovanni had yet to return to his Poké Ball. The leader of Team Rocket then took out a small disk and placed it inside his Wonder Launcher. He then targeted Cloyster and a golden star-shaped pulse of light erupted from the Launcher, striking Cloyster. Immediately, the clam-like Pokémon regained consciousness and rose, taking its place besides Tauros.

Mia, seeing that Giovanni had used the Wonder Launcher to give Cloyster a Max Revive, looked over at the officials and declared, "Giovanni has broken the rules by using a Wonder Launcher when it is forbidden without prior consent by both Trainers. Therefore, I should be declared the winner."

"We never agreed to _not_ allow its use," Giovanni countered with a grin. He looked over at the officials, still grinning.

"He is right," the male referee stated, a little too easily for Mia's liking. She knew that the referees were a part of Team Rocket, but she could not help but think that there was something else going on here, too. "There was no verbal declaration that the Wonder Launcher was forbidden in this battle. In addition, it was never stated that a revived Pokémon was not allowed to fight alongside another Pokémon that was deployed on the field," the official continued, anticipating Mia's next argument.

"Indeed," the female referee agreed, nodding, having no problem with the loophole.

"What?" Mia roared, barely able to contain herself.

"Those are our decisions," the two officials yelled at her in unison, almost causing her to recoil. "You must abide by them. You, however, are still to abide by the original rules. _You_ may not use a Wonder Launcher or use two Pokémon in battle. You and/or your Pokémon also may _not_ launch a direct attack on Giovanni at all."

Mia wanted to protest but she was too stunned at the officials' decisions. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing. It was obvious that the officials were siding with Giovanni in this battle and were doing everything in their power to ensure that he wound up winning. The question was why. Was it simply because her Pokémon were so much stronger than Giovanni's? No, it had to be something else, something more sinister, given how they had practically yelled at her just now when they had made their declarations. Something was going on here, something bad. Still, she would play their game and figure out what it was. If it came right down to it, she and her Pokémon friends could fight them and still manage to capture Giovanni, or neutralize him in other ways if it came down to it. Besides, she still had Venusaur's Mega Evolution at her disposal. For now, though, she would play their game until their true motives were revealed. Turning back to Jolteon, he cried, "Jolteon, use Double Team!"

Jolteon obeyed and suddenly, multiple illusory copies of Jolteon appeared. Giovanni's Pokémon glanced around the area, unable to distinguish the real Jolteon from the illusory copies. Giovanni gritted his teeth. Despite the ability to use the Wonder Launcher, Mia was still a powerful Trainer and a Champion. He had to think of something fast. He then yelled to his team, "Cloyster, use Shell Smash! Tauros, use Earthquake!" It was risky to use Shell Smash and Earthquake at the same time, especially since Shell Smash would drastically lower Cloyster's Defense, but he figured that it would be the best chance he had of taking down Jolteon since Earthquake was a difficult attack to avoid.

Cloyster's soon began to glow white with red cracks appearing on its body. The white energy soon burst off of Cloyster's shell as if they were pieces of shell. As Cloyster was using Shell Smash, Tauros stomped on the ground, causing it to tremor. Cloyster gave a grunt of pain and annoyance as the rings of energy produced from the Earthquake struck him, along with the cracking of the ground along with its shaking. Jolteon, however, was able to jump over the shockwaves. He leapt high into the air as the initial shockwave passed beneath him. He landed softly and kept his footing as the ground continued to tremor. He found it difficult to maintain his footing, but he was able to do so and did not sustain any damage.

"Cloyster, use Icicle Spear!" Giovanni cried.

Ice shards soon formed over the spikes on Cloyster's shell. It soon fired the shards of ice at the Jolteons that were approaching. The first Jolteon was an illusion and it was the first to disappear upon taking a hit. Soon, another Jolteon took a hit and it, too, disappeared. This continued until the attack ran its course and Cloyster had to wait for more spikes to form before being able to use the attack again.

Knowing that this was his best chance to finish off Cloyster, Jolteon used Thunderbolt on Cloyster. The bolt of lightning erupted from spiky hairs and struck the clam once more. The electrical attack was more than sufficient to take down the weakened Cloyster. Once again, Cloyster fell and swirls appeared in its eyes, indicating that it was unconscious.

Giovanni grimaced as Cloyster was taken down again without being able to inflict any damage on any of Mia's team, let alone actually take any of them down. For a moment, he contemplated using his last Max Revive on Cloyster again just to annoy Mia and see if it would take her off her game. Still, this was Leaf he was dealing with. She would not be taken off her game so easily. He quickly decided against using his Max Revive on Cloyster, though, since he had a number of other, more worthwhile, Pokémon that he could use it on.

He drew out his next Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. It opened and revealed an Aggron. Mia was surprised at this choice of Pokémon since Tauros's most effective attack was Earthquake. He glanced down at Jolteon and directed, "Jolteon return!"

Jolteon looked back at Mia, its surprise evident on its face. Mia merely nodded. "Don't worry Jolteon. I've got a plan."

Jolteon then returned to Mia and she clipped his Poké Ball to her belt. She next pulled out another Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Chandelure, engage!" she declared as the ball reached the apex of its throw. It opened and out came the chandelier-like ghost. Before allowing Chandelure to go onto the battlefield, she went over to him and whispered something into his ear. She made sure that her other Pokémon could also hear what she was saying as well. Chandelure gave an almost sadistic grin as he listened to what Mia told him. Once she was finished, Mia pointed towards the battlefield and Chandelure rushed out to meet his next opponent. Giovanni grimaced. Aggron's strongest move was Earthquake and, while powerful against a grounded Fire-type Pokémon, it would be useless if Chandelure were not on the ground. Shockingly, Chandelure floated down to the ground, almost as if daring Giovanni to have his Pokémon use Earthquake on him. He knew that it was a dangerous proposition. His own Pokémon would also take damage from the attack. Still, he had few other options and in the end, he went for broke and cried, "Aggron, Tauros, use Earthquake!" His hope was that they would perform the move fast enough to catch Chandelure while he was still on the ground.

Both Pokémon stomped on the ground and the helipad began to shake once more. Rings erupted from the epicenters of their stomps and the metal of the pad began to crack. Chandelure, however, was not bothered by the shaking ground, merely floating above the ground as it began to shake, allowing the shockwaves from the Earthquake to pass beneath him. Mia gave a look of surprise and disdain as Giovanni had issued a command that would hurt both of his Pokémon for the off chance that he might somehow catch Chandelure off guard. Both Aggron and Tauros gave grunts of pain as they each sustained damage from the other's Earthquake. Chandelure responded by unleashing a Flamethrower directly at the two Pokémon. Aggron immediately fell to the searing flame, while Tauros attempted to use Rock Slide in order to take down the Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon. A series of rocks were launched into the sky with an unknown power, targeting Chandelure. The ghostly chandelier banked to the right and allowed the rocks to sail upwards into the sky and out of sight. A second Flamethrower was more than enough to finish off Tauros. The bull-like Pokémon fell to the attack, the swirls in his eyes indicating that he was no longer able to battle.

The officials glanced over at Giovanni as he placed another disc inside his Wonder Launcher, wondering if they should call this match or if he planned on using his Wonder Launcher to revive one of the Pokémon. He prepared to fire a Max Revive at Tauros once more when what looked to be a bolt of lightning came streaking towards him. His face went wide with shock as Jolteon emerged from his Poké Ball and seemingly targeted Giovanni with a Pin Missile attack as several sharp hairs from the dog-like Pokémon were unleashed his way. Giovanni ducked and raised his arm, attempting to protect his head. For a second, he was relieved when he did not feel any of the sharp hairs strike his face or any other part of his body. His relief soon turned into horror as he realized that such an attack would not have been made without there being a plan behind it. He then looked down at his Wonder Launcher and his eyes went wide with horror, for the device had numerous cracks with sparks of electricity emanating from the cracks. There were also several sharp hairs jutting out from it. He frantically pointed it at Tauros and attempted to fire the Max Revive at his fallen Pokémon. Instead, though, he saw a white light emerge from the cracks in the Launcher, prompting him to tear it off his arm and throw it away before it exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. Fortunately, he was able to do so before it exploded and tore off his arm at best.

The officials then held up their hands and cried, "Leaf has violated the rules of the battle by having her Pokémon attack Giovanni directly! Not only that, but she also has two Pokémon on the battlefield."

Mia scowled. "I didn't attack him at all," she countered, looking sternly at the officials. The officials quickly noticed that Chandelure was no longer out on the battlefield either, having been replaced by Jolteon. "Jolteon specifically targeted the Wonder Launcher, not Giovanni, and I recalled Chandelure before Jolteon launched his attack. I can't help it if Giovanni was wearing the Launcher at the time Jolteon attacked or if he did not notice me recalling Chandelure before the attack was initiated. In addition, there was no agreement that said that the _Wonder Launcher_ was not a viable target." She gave a satisfied grin as the officials recoiled as if they had just taken a punch to the mouth.

The officials glanced worriedly at one another, and then back at Giovanni. Eventually, they shrugged and said, "Very well. Leaf has a point. She has not broken the rules. Continue the battle!" they called, their arms held high.

 _If this can be considered a battle_ , Giovanni thought sarcastically. For Giovanni, this was the shock of his life. Was he really this out of practice? "Both Tauros and Aggron are unable to battle. Jolteon, or rather Chandelure, is the winner."

Giovanni grimaced as he returned both fallen Pokémon to their Poké Balls. He then looked down at Persian. It was his only Pokémon left. Eventually, he cried, "Persian, go!"

The cougar-like Pokémon jumped forward and crouched, growling as it gazed at Jolteon. Mia simply stood there and motioned for Jolteon to return. Jolteon, feeling her gaze, turned to her and she nodded, indicating that his supposition was correct and that she wanted him to return. He did so and he remained by her side. She then took out one of her Poké Balls and opened it. A blue blob of energy emerged from the Poké Ball and quickly formed into Venusaur. Venusaur landed and glared at Persian. She would have this battle decided in a starter versus starter battle.

Back inside the base, on the eleventh floor, just outside of Giovanni's office not too far away from Ash, Jessie, James, and Meowth slowly recovered from the shocks that they had received in their battle against Mia. They each groaned as they were slow to rise. Looking around, they saw their Pokémon lying unconscious on the floor. They quickly returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls and stood erect. Looking around, they saw that they were alone.

"What's going on out there?" Jessie asked as she heard the sounds of battle both inside and outside the base.

"Our forces are fighting the twerps'," James replied.

"We have to do something," Jessie declared. "We're elite Team Rocket Agents. We can't just be bodyguards."

"But da boss ordered us ta stay out here in case da twerp or twerpette came by to get to him," Meowth interjected. "We can't leave our posts."

Jessie was about to protest when they all heard a voice on the intercom, declare, "Intruder alert. Security lines breached. Any and all remaining Team Rocket forces, your orders are to intercept the attackers on first floor and take them out. All Rocket Scientists, take all data you can and evacuate immediately. Anything that cannot be taken is to be destroyed."

"Come on, you heard them" Jessie said excitedly. "We've gotta get out there and help with the base's defense!"

"But what about the twerp?" James asked. "What if he comes for the boss too?"

"Weren't you listening? We have orders to go and help with the base's defense," Jessie cried. "Besides, the twerpette already made it past us and is fighting the boss. We have to make sure that no one else makes it up here to help her out."

The other two saw the wisdom in her words and nodded. With that, the trio headed to the nearest elevator only to find it was out of service. "Great," Jessie muttered. The trio then headed over to the stairwell and went to open the door, only to find it open up on them. Staring at them from across the entrance was none other than Ash, who was shocked to see them on the floor, and Pikachu, whose cheeks were crackling with electricity. "Team Rocket!" he cried in surprise.

Jessie and James grinned at the sight of Ash, with Jessie beginning their motto, "Prepare for…" but the motto was cut short by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. She cried aloud in pain and then collapsed to the ground.

While Pikachu was shocking Jessie, Ash released his other Pokémon, prompting James to do the same. Cofagrigus, Mr. Mime and Carnivine came out and James cried, "Everyone, attack the twerp and his Pokémon!"

Pikachu was able to intercept Cofagrigus's Shadow Ball with a Thunderbolt while Ash dodged a barrage of Bullet Seed from Carnivine. Still, he was frozen in his tracks by Mr. Mime's Psychic. James then commanded, "Carnivine, finish the fight!"

Just as Carnivine was about to finish off Ash, though, a Flamethrower attack from Charizard hit him squarely in the center of mass, the super effective attack taking him down with one hit.

Meanwhile, Jessie recovered from being shocked and joined the battle, unleashing her Pokémon into the fray. Gourgeist, a black pumpkin-like Pokémon with two short, stubby feet and eyes and a mouth on it stalk; Swoobat, Seviper, Yanmega, and Wobbuffet all came out and stared down Ash's Pokémon. Ash, knowing that Wobbuffet would use either Counter or Mirror Coat, decided to throw it for a loop, ordering, "Snorlax, go after Wobbuffet. The rest of you, pick your opponents and attack!"

Snorlax nodded and rushed towards Wobbuffet. Jessie then ordered, "Wobbuffet, use Counter!" She expected Snorlax to use a physical attack on Wobbuffet since that was its strength. However, she would be in for a surprise as Ash grinned when she gave the order.

A red glow surrounded Wobbuffet as it used Counter, which would work on physical attacks. However, Ash had other ideas. "Snorlax, use Hyper Beam!"

Snorlax nodded and opened his mouth. A ball of red and white energy formed in front of his mouth as Jessie suddenly realized that Ash had lured her into a trap. It was reminiscent of how Mia would have battled her. "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" she cried frantically.

Wobbuffet obeyed and quickly switched from using Counter to using Mirror Coat. The glow did not change but the technique did. However, Ash's smile did not disappear. Suddenly, Snorlax closed his mouth and charged right at Wobbuffet and curled his fingers into a fist, a blue glow forming over said fist. The large Pokémon drew back his arm and performed an incredibly strong Ice Punch on Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet realized too late that Snorlax was using a physical attack, rather than a special attack and the Psychic-type Pokémon was defenseless as Snorlax's punch caught Wobbuffet squarely in the face. The attack sent the Pokémon flying through the air, crashing on the ground behind Jessie, skidding to a halt, the swirls in his eyes indicating that he was unconscious.

The rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon did not last much longer, either. Pikachu slaughtered Swoobat with a single Thunderbolt, while Donphan dealt with Yanmega, taking her down with a single Stone Edge barrage. Mr. Mime was dealt with by Sceptile who took it down with a single Leaf Blade, freeing Ash from its telekinetic control. Cofagrigus attempted to avenge the other Pokémon by launching a Night Shade attack towards Sceptile, but it was intercepted by Donphan, who took only minimal damage from it. Donphan then took down Cofagrigus with a single Stone Edge, leaving only Seviper and Gourgeist to deal with. Blastoise dealt with the Poison/Dark-type snake by firing off a single Hydro Pump, the swirls in his eyes showing that he was unable to battle, leaving Gourgeist all alone to deal with the rest of Ash's team. The Pokémon almost whimpered in fright, knowing that it was no match for Ash's entire team. And sure enough, it did not last long, for Charizard quickly went over to it and fired a single Fire Blast at it, taking down the enemy Ghost-type Pokémon. That left only Meowth, along with Jessie and James.

Meowth, however, would not go down without trying to put up a fight, though, since Ash was not Mia and he had a feeling his battle with Pikachu had been getting personal from all the shocks he and the rest of the Trio had to endure. He immediately extended his claws and rushed towards Pikachu, trying to unleash a hail of Fury Swipes at the electric mouse. "You may be a champ, but we won't go down so easy," the cat-like Pokémon exclaimed. However, the beads of sweat forming on his brow put to lie his bravado.

All Pikachu could do was shrug. There was no way Meowth could be this foolish. He grinned as he unleashed a single Thunderbolt on the cat-like Pokémon. He scored a direct hit and Meowth wailed aloud in pain and shock as electricity arced across his body. Meowth then fell to the ground, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James went to draw their side arms in the vain hope that they could take down Ash and Pikachu before being taken down themselves. Their plan was quickly squashed as Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at them and shocked both of them into unconsciousness. Once the short battle was over, Ash knelt down and picked up Jessie and James's Ray Guns, stuffing them into his backpack. However, he kept out one of the Ray Guns and looked down at the unconscious forms of Jessie, James, and Meowth. The prudent thing to do would be to kill them. That's what Mia would have done. However, he was not Mia. He did not have her viciousness when dealing with Team Rocket. They were already beaten and they were also not nearly as evil as the rest of Team Rocket. The Trio may have been salvageable. As such, he walked past them, letting them live, just as Mia had done.

Knowing what Pikachu was asking, he responded, "No. I won't kill them like this. They may be the bad guys, but I won't become like them."

"Pikaka pi pika," came Pikachu's next response. Ash did not know exactly what he said, but given Pikachu's feelings for Team Rocket, he guessed that Pikachu said that Mia would not have hesitated to kill them. Knowing Mia, though, he doubted that. Jessie, James, and Meowth were bad, but they were nowhere close to being as outright evil as Giovanni or any of the other villainous team leaders he had faced on his journey. "They're not as bad as the others and they've helped us on occasion," Ash explained. He then shifted his line of thought. "Come on," he told Pikachu, smiling. "We've gotta find Mia." He then continued down the corridor, searching for Giovanni's office so he could find out where his sister was.

Meanwhile, in the main hangar, Dr. Zager and the Grunts and Agents that would be going to Mahogany Town were finishing loading the large twin-rotored helicopter that they would use in order to evacuate the base. They were performing the final checks to make sure that all essential data had been downloaded onto datapads and that they could take off as soon as they were ready.

"Hmm," a subordinate Scientist said. "It looks like we've got all essential data with us."

"Good, then we can finally get out of here," Dr. Zager answered, looking over at his subordinate.

The two then walked up the boarding ramp and boarded the helicopter, followed by several Rocket Grunts and two Rocket Agents. Dr. Zager took the seat next to the pilot and put on a pair of headphones with a microphone while the other Rocket Grunts and Agents took seats behind Dr. Zager and the pilot and strapped themselves in.

Once everyone was strapped in, Zager called out, "Does everyone have all essential data and materials?"

A chorus of affirmatives answered him. Once that was finished, the pilot began the startup sequence for the helicopter. Outside the helicopter, the rotors began to turn as the startup process commenced. After a few minutes, the helicopter was ready for takeoff and lifted off of the ground. It then turned towards a large set of steel blast doors that issued a loud clank as they began to slide open, lights flashing at the ends of the doors. Once the doors were open all the way, the helicopter lurched ahead and proceeded to exit the base. Once it was clear of the doors, it ascended higher into the air. As it ascended, the pilot and Dr. Zager could see the battle between Mia and Giovanni below them on the outer helipad.

The pilot looked over to Dr. Zager and asked, "Should we assist them?"

Zager considered the question for a moment. A part of him was tempted to say yes, for he knew that Giovanni was no match for Mia in a Pokémon battle. However, he also knew that Mia's Pokémon were incredibly powerful, dangerous and, like her, would not hesitate to use deadly force against anyone or anything associated with Team Rocket. And her Pokémon had more than enough firepower to take down the helicopter. In the end, Dr. Zager shook his head.

"No," he answered. "We have our orders directly from Giovanni, himself. We are to go to Mahogany Town immediately to take on the Agents for the attack on Goldenrod City. Once we do so, we'll go to Goldenrod City and carry out our mission."

"Understood," the pilot answered. He then guided the helicopter away from Team Rocket Headquarters and directed it towards Mahogany Town in the Johto Region of Japan.

Back on the roof of Team Rocket Headquarters, Persian stepped onto the battlefield. Giovanni began the battle by yelling to Persian, "Persian, use Fake Out!"

Persian then charged forward at incredible speed and seemingly disappeared, reappearing in front of Venusaur. It then slapped its two front paws together, causing Venusaur to flinch for a second. A gust of wind was produced by the clap and buffeted Venusaur, but the Pokémon kept his footing.

As Venusaur flinched, Giovanni called, "Persian, use Bubble Beam!"

Persian opened its mouth and a stream of bubbles erupted towards Venusaur at point blank range. Since Persian was right next to the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon, it scored a direct hit on Venusaur, though the Pokémon did not suffer much damage. He glared as a ball of energy formed in front of his mouth. As he was preparing his Energy Ball, though, Giovanni cried, "Persian, use Protect!"

Persian complied and a green field of energy surrounded it. Venusaur's Energy Ball struck the energy field and it absorbed the ball and no damage was inflicted on Persian. Venusaur quickly backed off as Persian fired another Bubble Beam at him. The bubbles scored another direct hit on the Pokémon, but as it was firing the attack, Venusaur readied another Energy Ball. The large Pokémon then unleashed the vicious ball of energy on Persian. Persian reflexively tried to dive out of the way so it could power a Protect, but it was unable to avoid the emerald ball of energy. The Energy Ball scored a direct hit on Persian and the cat gave a cry as it exploded and sent him flying through the air. Persian crashed into the ground and skidded along the ground a few feet before coming to a halt. Despite the damage Persian suffered, it was not beaten yet.

Persian opened its mouth in preparation of launching another attack. This time, it was a Hyper Beam. A red and white ball of energy formed in front of the cat's mouth. Venusaur would not be caught off guard, though. As soon as the ball had formed, Venusaur used his vines that usually would be used for Vine Whip to propel himself into the air, shocking Giovanni. Persian then unleashed the massive Hyper Beam upon Venusaur. Persian's Hyper Beam, however, sailed underneath the large Grass/Poison-type Pokémon, leaving him unharmed. He then fell to the ground, practically crashing into it, causing it to shake as he landed. Long before Persian recharged and could prepare a Protect shield, Venusaur fired another Energy Ball at him and scored a direct hit, sending it flying once more. Once Persian recovered from this attack, it rushed Venusaur and used Slash and tried to rake Venusaur's face with its claws. The large Pokémon was surprisingly quick, though, and managed to avoid the cat's attack. Venusaur then decided that it was time to end this fight. Before Persian could erect a Protect barrier, Mia's starter powered another Energy Ball. After a single second, a ball of energy was released from Venusaur. It instantly crossed the distance between the two Pokémon, and scored a direct hit on Persian. Persian gave another cry as it took the direct hit from Venusaur's Energy Ball and was sent flying. It crashed into the ground a few feet away and struggled to rise, eventually managing to do so. After a few seconds, though, Persian fell to the ground. It tried to rise and continue to fight but found itself unable to do so and then resigned itself to the fact that it was beaten. Swirls then appeared in its eyes, signifying its defeat.

"Persian is unable to battle," the officials declared. "Venusaur is the winner. Which means that Leaf has won the match." They held their flag and pointed it towards Mia, indicating that she was the victor. She looked across at Giovanni and noticed that he was not too dejected over his loss, nor was he concerned about the fact that his escape helicopter was nothing more than a large metal paperweight. What did Giovanni know that she did not?

"Surrender now, Giovanni," she called across the helipad. "It's over. There's nowhere left for you to go."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Giovanni looked back at the disabled helicopter and saw that there were no conveniently placed jetpacks or emergency escape skiffs anywhere on the pad. Still, he did not look too concerned. He heard Mia make her offer once more. "No," he retorted harshly to the girl, a grin creasing his face. This response surprised the girl, and also gave her a bad feeling.

"I won the battle fair and square," Mia stated plainly. "You even gained an advantage being able to use two Pokémon on the battlefield, as well as the use of the Wonder Launcher, the former of which was stated to be strictly against the rules of this battle, with the latter never having previously been agreed to."

"It doesn't matter," he retorted. "You still have to capture me and I won't make it that easy." He quickly reached into his suit jacket's pocket.

"Stop!" Mia called over to him. She and her Pokémon rushed to the Rocket Boss as he drew his weapon, a slugthrower much like the one in use by many members of Team Rocket that did not have access to the Ray Guns that were now increasingly common in the organization. Still, the slugthrower had its advantages, most notably the fact that it did not cauterize any wounds inflicted. If he hit Mia, she would suffer a severe injury that could get infected, or even cause her to bleed out if it was not treated quickly enough.

She arrived at the Rocket Boss as Giovanni was taking aim at her. He would not be denied his prize. Before he could draw an accurate bead on her, though, Mia swerved to the side, making it harder for Giovanni to target her. Seeing that she had no choice, she rushed directly towards the Rocket Boss before he could target her again. When she reached him, she grabbed the gun and attempted to wrench it from Giovanni's grasp. Giovanni, though, was not making it easy, for he quickly pulled back, drawing her in. He then thrust his hand forward and shoved Ash backwards. The girl staggered a few steps back but maintained her footing. She then stared at Giovanni, who began to approach, grinning darkly. "I said I wasn't gonna make it easy," he gloated as he neared the girl, leveling his gun at the girl's head.

As he was about to shoot Mia, though, she quickly ducked down as he proceeded to pull the trigger on his gun, his shot going wide. She then pulled out her Ray Gun and a pop sounded and a green bolt of energy struck Giovanni's own gun squarely in the barrel. Giovanni gave a cry of surprise as the now shattered pieces of the gun flew out of his hand. He was thankful that the ammunition did not cook off and explode, potentially injuring his hand or worse. As he gritted his teeth in pain and massaged his hand, he looked up and saw Leaf standing before him, a Ray Gun pointed squarely at his face.

Giovanni considered drawing one of his three remaining Poké Balls, which contained the Lake Guardians, but seeing the girl with the gun, he decided against doing something obviously suicidal. Mia's twin bond then flared and she turned around to see Ash standing a dozen feet away, flanked by his Pokémon. His eyes lit up with delight when he saw that she was okay and that Giovanni was standing beaten before her.

"It's over Giovanni," she declared forcefully, the hold of on her gun not wavering until she saw Ash looking directly at her. It was something that Giovanni quickly picked up on. The Rocket Boss backed away from her a little, holding his hands up, but a dark grin began to cross his face.

"Do you have it in you, girl?" he asked. "Can you kill me in cold blood? Can you murder me in front of your own brother?"

"You're a monster," Mia growled. "You're a thief, a kidnapper, and a known murderer. You run an organization of thieves, kidnappers, and murderers. Too many people and Pokémon have died at the hands of Team Rocket. Many more are suffering because of you. No more! It ends now!" she screamed. "Besides, you attempted to kill us and our friends and family earlier today. Killing you would not be murder. It would be self-defense."

"Then do it," he challenged. "Kill me, just as I and my subordinates are said to have done to so many others. But know that regardless of what you just said, I am defenseless. If you kill me now, it _would_ be murder."

Mia gave a low growl. Giovanni was wrong. He was too dangerous to keep alive. He had enough money to either bribe his way out of jail, assuming he ever got to it, or control and reestablish Team Rocket from inside prison. He could also use his connections and resources to lash out at her, her family, and Ash's friends, all of them. She quickly decided that the only way to limit the suffering he would cause was to kill him and went to pull the trigger. It was halfway pulled when she heard Ash's voice behind her. "Wait!" he called.

His call hit her like an electric jolt and she almost jumped at the sound of his voice, quickly releasing her grip on the trigger. Looking at him, she saw him rushing towards her, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder and Charizard not far behind. All the while, Giovanni did not make a single move. Even if he could get the jump on Leaf, that boy's Pikachu that Jessie, James, and Meowth had been chasing for three years would almost certainly shock him, and then the Leaf would retaliate and most certainly kill him, and that was only if Pikachu and Charizard did not kill him themselves. He could tell by the look on the Charizard's face that he could not believe that Ash would not let Mia kill him and was thinking about doing it, himself, if neither of the humans decided to do so. As for Mia, she smiled back at her brother for a second, but soon she turned back to face Giovanni and took aim at him once more, answering sternly, "No Ash. One way or another, it ends now. Giovanni is too dangerous to keep alive."

"He's unarmed and he either doesn't have any Pokémon with him, or they've all fainted. We don't have to kill him now. He's beaten," Ash insisted.

"No!" Mia cried, shaking her head. "Even if he goes to jail, he'll still be able to lash out against our family and the families of other Team Rocket enemies. He has the resources and the connections to do it. I won't let that happen. His threat must end now!"

She focused on Giovanni once more and was about to pull the trigger when Ash rushed her and grabbed the gun's barrel, pushing it away from Giovanni, causing the resulting blast to sail wide of him. "Give me the gun Mia," he told her as kindly as possible. "We can subdue him without killing him. His threat will be neutralized once he goes to jail."

"No!" she roared angrily. "You don't get it, Ash! He's a monster with resources and friends. The Team Rocket Executives have yet to be dealt with. If he's captured, they'll almost certainly try to free him!"

"Then we'll stop them, too," Ash replied, giving a kind and hopeful smile.

His response caused Mia to crack a sarcastic smile. "At what cost?" she retorted. "And what if he escapes the old fashioned way? What if he bribes a guard to get him out or worse, a judge into giving him a lenient sentence, or he gets paroled and gets out of jail in a year or two anyway? Or what if he bribes a jury into finding him not guilty? What then?"

The questions took Ash aback. He had not thought about those scenarios. He gave a sigh as he remained silent, but his expression was still stern and he still vowed that he would not let Mia simply murder Giovanni.

Giovanni watched the exchange, glancing over at the two League officials, who were not making any moves of their own at all, yet. They glanced over at him but gave no indication of whether or not they were going to arrest him or wait to see the outcome of the discussion between Mia and Ash.

He mulled over his options as he fingered the three Poké Balls in his jacket pocket. He also looked back at the disabled wreck of a helicopter. What none of his subordinates had known was that he had made a special Badge Amplifier just for him so that he could control his own personal force of Legendary Pokémon. This Badge Amplifier also did not limit the powers of the Legendaries that he controlled, either, giving the Pokémon additional energy to offset the energy that was suppressed by the controlling effects of the Amplifier. He only hoped that it had not been damaged when that Jolteon had fried the helicopter. He took out his Pokédex and scanned the Poké Balls. The readings soon came back and the Pokédex detected an unknown type of energy surrounding the Pokémon. The scans indicated that the energy bound the Pokémon to their master, who just happened to be Giovanni, for he had given his own Poké Balls to his subordinates when he had ordered them to capture the various Legendary Pokémon.

Wasting no time, he gripped the Poké Balls was about to open them when both Ash and Mia turned to face him. Seeing him go for three new Pokémon ended the argument and she pointed the Ray Gun at him once more. "Don't," she warned, her stern look letting him know what would happen if he tried to release the Pokémon. "Shrink the balls and place them on the ground with your left hand keeping your right hand held up in the air," she instructed.

Giovanni did as he was told and one by one, he took each of the new Poké Balls and pressed their buttons, shrinking them down to the size of balls that were little larger than ping-pong balls. He then placed them on the ground in front of him.

"Now, kick them away," she instructed.

As she ordered Giovanni to kick away his Pokémon, Ash noticed that the Pokémon League officials were not making any move in support of them. In fact, they were looking a little worried, something that he and his Pokémon seemed to pick up on, as did Mia's. Mia, however, was too focused on Giovanni at the moment to concern herself with the Pokémon League officials. Besides, she knew that her Pokémon and Ash would alert her if they tried anything.

"Next, recall Persian," she commanded.

"I don't have Persian's Poké Ball with me," he answered with a shrug.

She glanced back at Starmie and Chandelure, whose eyes and core began to glow. After a second, she turned back to the Team Rocket Boss and said, "Persian's Poké Ball is in your right pants pocket. Reach in with your left hand while keeping your right hand in the air and pull it out slowly. You will then return Persian to its Poké Ball."

Giovanni gritted his teeth. She was taking every precaution. He scanned the helipad and found that the Poké Balls had been kicked too far away for him to be able to reach them without getting shot to pieces by his enemies. He glanced suspiciously at the "Pokémon League" officials, seemingly asking what he should do. They made no move one way or the other. He was alone. Seeing little choice, he did as he was instructed. Reaching across his body with his left hand, he awkwardly reached into his pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball. He slowly pulled it out and contemplated using it to stun Mia. Seeing her Pokémon come to back her up, though, he immediately nixed that idea. There were too many enemy Pokémon for him to deal with and he did not know if the Lake Guardians would be able to beat Tyranitar, given the massive type advantage he possessed over them. Sighing, he called, "Persian return!"

He then recalled Persian into its Poké Ball and then shrunk the ball down, placing it in his left pocket. "Now, kneel down on the ground, place your hands on your head and interlock your fingers," Mia directed.

The Rocket Boss gave a growl. She was not taking any chances. Seeing little choice, he did as was instructed. However, she did not have any rope with which to tie him, so she looked over to the Pokémon League officials and asked, "Do you have any rope or handcuffs with which to bind his hands?"

The League officials gave no answer as they continued to watch the proceedings. This caused Mia to become troubled.

"I do!" Ash volunteered. He unslung his backpack and placed it on the ground. Fishing into it, he soon took out a piece of thin brown rope. He went over and gave it to Mia. This exchange greatly troubled both Giovanni as well as the League officials.

"Thanks Ash," Mia said with a smile. "Maybe you're right. Maybe no one else has to die today."

She was about to go over to bind Giovanni's hands when a warning flashed in her mind. Looking behind her, she saw a wave of crimson rings coming her way. Inside the rings it was pitch black. Both Ash and Mia dove out of the way of the Night Shade blast. The attack struck the helipad and parts of it erupted in an unnatural black flame. Giovanni quickly backed away, making sure that none of the flames managed to reach him. The attack took Ash by surprise and he gasped, yelling, "What was that?"

Just then, the familiar voice of Jessie answered his question, proclaiming, "What was that? A twerpish question indeed!"

Soon, James's voice broke in, saying, "The answer to come as we feel the need!"

Ash only groaned as they began their motto:

Jessie: Prepare for trouble!

James: Make it double!

Jessie: To protect the world from devastation!

James: To unite all peoples within our nation!

Jessie: To denounce the evils of truth and love!

James: To extend our reach to the stars above!

Jessie: Jessie!

James: James!

Jessie: Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!

James: Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!

Meowth: Meowth! That's right!

Wobbuffet: Wobbuffet!

As Team Rocket performed their motto, they posed with each line. Ash only groaned throughout the motto, but Mia was a lot more proactive in dealing with the new threats. As soon as they had begun the motto, she commanded, "Everyone, attack Team Rocket and their Pokémon!"

Her Pokémon did not need to be told twice and they launched their strongest ranged attacks against Team Rocket. With no direction from Team Rocket, since they were still finishing their motto, Wobbuffet quickly stepped out in front of the team and intercepted the attacks using Mirror Coat, figuring that since Mia used ranged attacks, and that most ranged attacks were special attacks, that it would be the safer option. It was not a bad call, all things considered, since the only really powerful ranged physical attack that it really had to worry about was Stone Edge.

All of the special attacks from Mia's Pokémon, Thunderbolt, Razor Leaf, Flamethrower, and Psychic, were reflected back at them. They each braced themselves for the counterblow and took the attacks as best they could, knowing that they could survive them. Jolteon merely absorbed the electricity from his own Thunderbolt and was fully replenished and ready to fight. Venusaur took minimal damage from its own attack since he was both a Grass and Poison-type Pokémon. In addition, both Flamethrower and Psychic did minimal damage to Chandelure and Starmie since they were part Fire and part Psychic-type respectively. One problem that Wobbuffet had, though, was the fact that Mirror Coat only protected against Special Attacks, and even then, Wobbuffet still took some damage. Normal physical attacks were able to break through it without a problem, which Tyranitar and Garchomp quickly demonstrated as Tyranitar unleashed a Stone Edge barrage on the blob-like Pokémon while Garchomp charged Wobbuffet, its claws glowing.

The Psychic-type blob-like Pokémon attempted to switch to Counter to defend against the two incoming physical attacks, but was too slow and the Stone Edge attack got through and scored a direct hit, inflicting significant damage to the Team Rocket Pokémon, while Garchomp lashed out at it with Dragon Claw. She raked her claws across Wobbuffet's face, and felled the Pokémon, who had already been forced to endure all of the special attacks, along with Tyranitar's undefended Stone Edge. With Wobbuffet out of the way, the rest of Mia's Pokémon were free to use all of their attacks on the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon without any repercussions. Despite the neutralization of Wobbuffet, though, they knew that it would be a tough battle, for they Pokémon were already tired from having fought at the hotel, as well as against the Rocket Brothers, Butch, Cassidy, and also the Legendaries in the security control center and the hangar.

As soon as Team Rocket had finished their motto, Ash complained, "Not you three again!"

"You didn't think we'd be taken down so easily, did you twerp?" Jessie asked condescendingly.

"We've been shocked so many times by that Pikachu that we've actually grown a type of resistance to it," James added. "I must say that I liked not having been shocked for such a long time, but we knew that it would come to an end eventually."

"Enough talk," Meowth bellowed. "We've gotta take down the twerps and their Pokémon and give da boss time ta make his move."

"Right," came both Team Rocket Agents.

They then pointed their fingers towards Ash and Mia's Pokémon, Jessie commanding, "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat, Yanmega use Silver Wind, Seviper use Poison Tail, Swoobat use Air Slash! Gourgeist, use Shadow Ball! All of you, target the twerpette and her Pokémon! Take them out!"

James then cried, "Carnivine, use Bullet Seed, Mr. Mime use Psychic, Cofagrigus use Shadow Ball! Malamar, use Psybeam! Target the twerpette's Pokémon!"

Only after they gave their commands did they realize that Mia had already taken down Wobbuffet. As such, it could not cover their Pokémon as they attacked Mia's team. This meant that it was about to become a clash of powers, a clash that they would almost certainly lose. That did not stop their remaining Pokémon from launching a barrage of attacks on Mia's Pokémon, as well as Mia, herself, with the young teen having to dodge a barrage of Bullet Seed. Sure enough, the streams of attacks clashed with each other and an explosion was generated once the powers collided. The smoke obscured both teams, but Chandelure and Starmie were able to link their minds with all of Mia's Pokémon, save Tyranitar, who was still able to make out the locations of Team Rocket's Pokémon through the smoke anyway. They launched a counterattack, each Pokémon targeting one of Team Rocket's Pokémon that they had a type advantage against.

Yanmega was the first to fall, taking a direct hit from Tyranitar's Stone Edge barrage. Next, Jolteon unleashed a vicious Thunderbolt towards Mr. Mime. Mr. Mime, however, countered with a Light Screen. The Light Screen rose and blocked the special attacks launched by Mia's Pokémon. "Mr. Mime, raise a Reflect as well!" James commanded.

The Pokémon complied and a Reflect barrier was also raised to support the Light Screen. The attacks of Mia's Pokémon struck the Reflect and Light Screen barriers and were blocked, with only half of the energy managing to get through. "Go!" Team Rocket cried. "Attack the twerpette with everything you've got!"

Again, another wave of attacks came towards Mia's Pokémon. They countered again with their own moves and created another explosion, canceling out the attacks. Still, she could see that her Pokémon were breathing heavily. "Hey Ash, a little help here!" she called loudly.

Her cry got Ash's attention as he glanced back at her and saw that all of the previous battles were taking their toll on her Pokémon. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt, Charizard use Fire Blast! Everyone else, come on out!"

He tossed his remaining Poké Balls into the air and out came the rest of his team. "Attack Team Rocket's Pokémon!" he cried.

Pikachu and Charizard were the first to launch their attacks, the Fire Blast targeting Carnivine and Thunderbolt zeroing in on Swoobat. The Light Screen absorbed half of the damage that would have been inflicted by the attacks and the attacks only managed to get through at half power. Still, it was enough to get the Pokémon to recoil from each hit, electricity arcing across Swoobat's body. However, they were not strong enough to take down Team Rocket's Pokémon with single hits. Soon, the rest of Ash's Pokémon joined in the fighting and added their power to the mix.

Blastoise fired an Ice Beam towards Carnivine, the more dangerous of the Team Rocket Pokémon that were weak to Ice Beam, scoring a direct hit on the Pokémon. Still, the Light Screen halved the power of the attack and it was not strong enough to take down Carnivine, which surprised both Ash as well as Blastoise. Venusaur and Sceptile targeted Cofagrigus and launched an Energy Ball and a Leaf Storm at the Ghost-type Pokémon. Both attacks got through the shield but they only did so at half power and, as such, were not enough to take out Cofagrigus. Donphan and Snorlax then charged Seviper with Donphan stomping on the ground using Earthquake. The helipad shook again and cracks appeared in the metal as a line of cracks made its way towards Seviper. Seviper took a direct hit, albeit at only half the original power of the attack. The snake-like Pokémon countered by launching a Poison Tail Donphan's way, but it was intercepted by Snorlax, who took the attack to the body. The Poison Tail did not inflict much damage and Snorlax quickly countered with a Mega Kick, sending the Pokémon flying into Carnivine, knocking it over. Both Pokémon quickly rose, though, continuing to fight, which surprised both Snorlax and Donphan greatly. They were quickly joined by Malamar, the three Pokémon focusing their attention on Ash's own, preparing to launch their counterattack. Ash also wondered what was going on, since Team Rocket's Pokémon had never shown themselves to be this resilient before, even with the added edge of Light Screen and Reflect.

Not too far away from the battle, Giovanni would have handed over the reigns of Team Rocket to the former Blunder Brigade as he saw them come onto the scene and divert the attention of the teens away from him. He knew that there was little time, since he did not expect their Pokémon to last very long against the impending assault. _Don't be too concerned_ , a voice that he did not recognize echoed throughout his head. _Wait for the opportune moment to strike. You'll only get one shot and despite the greater endurance of Team Rocket's Pokémon I've managed to grant unto them, they will eventually fall to Ash and Mia's Pokémon and even with their increased strength, the Lake Guardians could be in trouble if they're forced to face down twelve well-trained and powerful Pokémon_.

Giovanni was not too concerned. He knew that he would have to choose the right moment with which to attack. And that moment would soon come. He went over to each of the seemingly discarded Poké Balls and picked them up. He pushed the buttons on each of them and the Poké Balls grew to their normal size. He soon saw his chance as Mia's Pokémon went to join Ash's in his fight against Team Rocket. His eyes flashed as he tossed the Poké Balls into the air and called, "Lake Guardians, come on out!"

The Poké Balls opened and Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit emerged from them and appeared on the scene. The Pokémon then formed up and hovered around the Team Rocket Boss awaiting their orders. Giovanni grinned as they made no moves against him and simply floated by his side, Uxie being careful to not look its new master in the eyes for off chance of wiping his mind. Giovanni continued to watch Ash and Mia as they battled with Jessie, James, and Meowth, waiting to attack at the right moment. He scanned the battle and saw that Seviper had now fallen and that Swoobat was paralyzed. Mr. Mime continued to raise Light Screens and Reflect barriers to increase the defense of the party, but that would soon come to an end. Tyranitar ran towards it and opened his mouth. He then grabbed Mr. Mime and drew it to his mouth. He then bit down on Mr. Mime's head using Crunch and took down the Psychic-type Pokémon with one hit. The twerps', as Jessie, James, and Meowth called them, Pokémon were distracted. Now was as good a time as any to join the battle. "Go!" Giovanni cried to the Lake Guardians.

Azelf floated to the front and its eyes began to glow. An instant later, Pikachu, Charizard, Ash's Venusaur, Mia's Venusaur, and Garchomp were suddenly sent flying through the air. Charizard used his wings to arrest his momentum. After coming to a stop, he was about to release a Blast Burn on it when Tyranitar, recognizing that it was Azelf that he was about to face, stood in his way, holding his arms out, telling Charizard that he would handle the Lake Guardian, knowing of the special ability of the Psychic-type Pokémon. Azelf then attempted to attack Tyranitar by using Psychic, but the blue energy field that surrounded the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon did not inflict any damage, or impede his movement. Tyranitar then vanished from his spot and rushed Azelf using Pursuit, scoring a direct hit on Azelf and sending it flying backwards. The Pokémon issued a cry of pain and focused its power and special ability of sapping the will of whoever harmed it on Tyranitar. However, due to the fact that Dark-type Pokémon were immune to Psychic-type attacks, and the fact that Azelf was a Psychic-type Pokémon, Tyranitar was unaffected by Azelf's ability, just as he expected. Despite suffering a direct hit from a super effective attack, though, Azelf only took moderate damage and was still able to fight. However, the battle would be brought to an abrupt halt when six new Pokémon joined the fray, unleashing a barrage of attacks close to Ash and Mia's Pokémon. The teens turned and saw six new Pokémon: Blaziken, Sceptile, Swampert, a Blissey, a Salamence, and Rhyperior interposing themselves between Giovanni and the two teens and their Pokémon.

"Ash and Mia Ketchum, you must stand down at once. There is no need for this battle to escalate," the female official said in a seemingly plain tone, but there was something in her tone that neither Ash, nor Mia, liked and the two were put on edge.

"We shall deal with Giovanni," the male official told her. "You should go back to the village."

"What?" Ash blurted, incredulous at what he was hearing. Mia merely seethed, recognizing the voices. "Why? Giovanni has Legendary Pokémon! Powerful ones at that. You'll need backup if you want to beat them! Besides, Team Rocket may have other Legendary Pokémon!"

"Because the League demands it," the two officials snapped, all too suddenly for the teens' liking.

Ash was starting to get even more suspicious as Giovanni stood close to the Lake Guardians, grinning. "Go!" he cried. "Attack again!" He was rejoining the battle in earnest.

"He's continuing the battle and has control of the Lake Guardians," he cried in warning. "We have to stop him. You know what he could do with control over _those_ Pokémon."

"You will do no such thing," the officials stated as six more Poké Ball were drawn and six new Pokémon appeared in front her and her team, interposing themselves between Mia and Giovanni. These Pokémon consisted of the Johto starters, Typhlosion, Meganium, and Feraligatr; as well as an Espeon and an Umbreon, two feline-like Pokémon, Espeon having gray fur, a forked tail and a red jewel on its forehead, and Umbreon having black fur with yellow markings, and a Latios, essentially a blue and white version of Latias. Mia glared at them as she told Ash, "It's no good. They're a part of Team Rocket." She then stepped forward gave a sarcastic grin. "It's been a while, Alex and Lara, if I remember correctly."

"You do," the two officials stated darkly. "Now stand down, both of you, or face the consequences," they bellowed once more. They soon drew Ray Guns identical to the ones she saw Team Rocket use in both the attack on the hotel and in their defense of the base. Ash's eyes went wide with shock, while Mia merely grimaced. How had they gotten these weapons? Was the Pokémon League in league with Team Rocket? Turning to Mia, they declared, "Mia Ketchum, you will now surrender yourself to the custody of Pokémon League to stand trial for crimes against the League."

Her eyes widened with shock. "Trial? On what charges? And how do you have the right to press charges in the name of the Pokémon League?"

"Burglary, illegal possession of a firearm, theft, invasion of private property, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with Pokémon, and most importantly, numerous counts of murder, plus a variety of other charges that are too numerous to go into right now," they answered, ignoring Mia's question. "Surrender now, Mia."

"Don't make this harder on yourselves than it has to be," came the mocking voice of Giovanni from behind. His tone was full of malice and sadism. She saw that he had drawn a Ray Gun and was pointing it at her. The teens were shocked and angered at the turn of events.

"So, you _are_ working with Team Rocket," Ash accused. "I should have known from the moment you gave Giovanni all of those allowances in the battle," he seethed.

"They _are_ Team Rocket!" Mia roared almost in disbelief at how he had not seen it, despite her telling him mere moments before. "They were two of the older kids that were kidnapped just after I was. They elected to stay behind."

"We were never kidnapped," the two officials stated mockingly. "We ran away from home to join Team Rocket. Of course, our parents searched for us, but we, how shall we say, _fixed_ that problem fairly quickly. As for this battle, we must admit that you and your Pokémon were far stronger than we initially believed," the female official told the teenage girl. "But now, it ends. Charles Goodshow has been too weak for too long. It's time for things to change. It's time for the Pokémon League to take back what is theirs. We are going to be the agents of change. The International Pokémon League Committee has already signed off on backing us up. They have given us the power to have you arrested, or executed."

"The Pokémon League?" Mia blurted in shock.

"Yes," the two officials said, nodding. "Surrender now or face arrest and likely execution."

"Why?" she seethed, not willing to surrender. She took off her backpack and prepared to open it but a blue field of psychic energy surrounded her, stopping her movements. She remained in her frozen position as Latios's eyes glowed, indicating that he was using Psychic on her. She struggled against Latios's strength, attempting to move, but was only able to move her arms a few inches. She could move her fingers and wiggle her toes but that was of little use against the power of Latios. As she tried to move further, her nerves flared and her entire body erupted in pain. She cried out as she fell to the ground, breathing heavily, even though those breaths merely caused her more pain.

"Don't struggle Mia," the female official pleaded mockingly. "It will only make things harder and more painful for you."

"Stop it!" Ash cried trying to run over to Mia, only to be frozen by Latias's Psychic. "She's done nothing wrong!"

"She murdered our friend!" Lara snapped.

"Tristan betrayed us and sold us out to Team Rocket!" Mia retorted harshly. "He tried to kill me and several other escaping kids. By killing him, I saved the lives of everyone else!"

Charizard took this opportunity to launch a Fire Blast on Latios. The blast of fire scored a direct hit, causing the Pokémon to recoil in shock and pain despite the type disadvantage. Still, Latios was not without support and soon, two waves of water washed over Charizard, forcing him back several meters and knocking him to the ground. As soon as the water receded, a waterlogged Charizard was breathing heavily, but slowly rose, showing that he was still able to fight. He glared at the Swampert and Feraligatr that had attacked them singling them out for the upcoming battle. Ash's Venusaur soon came to support Charizard, along with Mia's Venusaur and Sceptile. The three Grass-type Pokémon launched Energy Balls at the two Water-types, causing them to cry out in pain with the hits, each one forcing them back a few feet, with Swampert barely able to stand. The lines were drawn once again. However, Giovanni soon joined the battle, standing with the Pokémon League officials and their Pokémon, the Lake Guardians floating out in front of the group.

"Stop this, Ash Ketchum. You don't have to go down with your sister," the officials told him forcefully. "If you both surrender now, neither of you will have to go down at all."

"Why should I? You've betrayed the Pokémon League," he accused, pointing at them.

The officials merely laughed. "Betrayed the League? The International Pokémon League Committee gave us these orders in the first place," the officials added conspiratorially. "We're not the traitors here. You are!"

That statement took Ash aback. He fought back tears as every single dream he had was being washed away by the seeming betrayal of the Pokémon League. He looked over to his fallen sister, who was struggling to rise.

"That's a lie," Mia accused weakly. "Some members may be willing to sell out to Team Rocket because of the truth, but others won't turn their backs on the League's ideals."

"Why are you working with Team Rocket?" Ash asked in desperation. "They go against everything the League supposedly stands for! Even if you once were part of Team Rocket, why do you still fight for them now? The League has been good for human/Pokémon relations. Why ruin it?"

"Because we have no choice," came the response. "Times are changing and we must adapt or the League will be destroyed. Don't you see? We're trying to _save_ the League!"

"What do you mean, destroyed?" the teens asked.

"It's a long and complicated story," the male official began. "Let's just say that everything you think you know about Pokémon and their origins is either incomplete, or outright wrong."

Mia looked at the ground, downcast. "So my theory is correct, then." This greatly surprised the officials.

"What theory," Ash and the officials asked.

"The theory that Pokémon are likely no more than six or seven hundred years old at the oldest and are, in fact, creations of humanity."

"You think that preposterous theory is true?" Ash blurted.

"It's not a theory, it's a fact," the Lara corrected. "Pokémon, or rather, Earth-based Pokémon, even those said to be from outer space like those that evolve with the Moon Stone and the Staryu line, even Deoxys, were originally developed by the old Eastern Coalition at the end of World War Three using the DNA of Mew, a Pokémon that, itself, naturally originates from Earth, being an evolution of a cat, and combining it with that of 'normal' animals."

"But what does that have to do with members of the Pokémon League siding with Team Rocket now?" Ash asked.

"There's a lot of history you don't know," Lara began. She then went into detail as to the origin and history of Pokémon.

Meanwhile, over at Pokémon League Headquarters, the current International Pokémon League Committee President Jean Mercier was giving the same exact talk to Lance and Cynthia as he was making his case to Lance and Cynthia about the reasons for the Pokémon League asking for Team Rocket's help. "As much as we don't want this to be the case, we have no choice but to work with Team Rocket," Mercier explained to the Champions. "Times are changing and we must adapt or the League will be destroyed. Don't you see? We're trying to _save_ the League!"

"What do you mean, destroyed?" Lance and Cynthia asked.

"It's a long and complicated story," Mercier began. "Let's just say that everything you think you know about Pokémon and their origins is either incomplete, or outright wrong."

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.

"What do you know about Pokémon and their origins at the moment?" Mercier asked.

"That many are descended from Mew, with a few exceptions, such as the Creation Trio, Arceus, and the Lake Guardians," Cynthia answered.

"Leaf has a different theory," Mercier answered. "She had postulated the theory that Pokémon are much younger, likely no more than six or seven hundred years old at the oldest and are, in fact, creations of humanity; all of them, even the Creation Trio, the Lake Guardians, and Arceus."

"You think that theory is true?" Lance asked.

"It's not a theory, it's a fact," Mercier corrected. "Mia was right. Pokémon, even those said to be from outer space like those that evolve with the Moon Stone and the Staryu line, and even the likes of Arceus, were originally developed by the old Eastern Coalition at the end of World War Three using the DNA of Mew, a Pokémon that, itself, naturally originates from Earth, being an evolution of a cat, and combining it with 'normal' animals. The Eastern Coalition did so because the NATO Alliance, EURO, and Russia all had a large arsenal of nuclear weapons that would have obliterated the Eastern Coalition if an exchange occurred. Pokémon were not only an equalizing factor, but they had more tactical applications as well, as any Pokémon Trainer can attest to."

"But what does that have to do with members of the Pokémon League siding with Team Rocket now?" Lance asked.

"There's a lot of history you don't know. Suffice to say, the Federation has laws against the use of bioweapons, micro and macroscopic, of which Pokémon are. To make matters even worse, Pokémon are sentient beings, albeit young sentient beings, and they know the difference between right and wrong and can act according to their consciences. As such, sentients' rights laws prohibited their use as slaves or involuntary weapons after World War Three and the War Against the PSI Aliens ended and Earth united into United Earth. However, Pokémon were designed to fight, and they loved to do so. In order to allow them an outlet for their aggression, humans created the Pokémon League so that Pokémon could be taught how to reach their full potential _and_ control their normal impulses. In addition, the Pokémon did not resist since it would allow them to bond with humans and also fight. It was quickly realized that this could teach humans and Pokémon how to live with one another and, as such, United Earth, allowed the Pokémon Leagues, and the Pokémon World to coexist with them. Even the Galactic Federation had no issues with the agreement, though at the time, Earth was not all that important a member of the Federation and it did not keep a close eye on us. However, as you know, the rules of Pokémon battles and the methods of control were different back then and have since changed greatly with the advent of new technology. Ever since the destruction of Daiban and the Galactic Federation Civil War, the seat of power of the Federation is now on Earth. That means that the Federation and United Earth will keep a closer eye on the Pokémon Leagues.

"These issues are why we fear the Federation and Earth. They _are_ taking a closer look at us and will likely now think that we are enslaving Pokémon. It is also a good opportunity for the Federation to take over the Pokémon World, in order to prevent any potential abuses by various Trainers. We cannot allow the Federation to take over the League, or the Pokémon World. Unfortunately, both United Earth and the Galactic Federation are exceedingly powerful, far more so than the Pokémon World. This is compounded by the fact that Unova has rejoined United Earth, with Kalos still waffling on what side to take, as well as the fact that there is the very real possibility that if we fight the Federation and Earth, that the Pokémon may rebel against us as well. In addition, the powerful Legendary Pokémon we would need in order to resist a hostile takeover are not easily controlled. However, Team Rocket has invented a machine that would allow us to control such Pokémon. That is why it was all too easy to convince some of the members that we need them. We need that machine, as well as their knowledge on how to build and operate it. Without it, we are doomed. That is why we are working with Team Rocket and will take down Ash and Leaf if they resist. That is the price for our alliance."

Lance and Cynthia could only scoff at the excuse given by Mercier. "So you're willing to throw away all the good will the Pokémon World has built up on a supposition and betray the best faces of the league simply for power," Lance seethed."

"You seem to think that conflict with United Earth and the Federation is inevitable, but it's not," Cynthia replied. "We've been monitoring the situation ourselves. United Earth and the Federation have no wish to start a conflict with the Pokémon World."

"And if a conflict were to occur, it would be _us_ that started it. And if you carry through with this, then that very conflict you're so scared of may well come to pass," Lance added sternly.

Mercier merely shrugged with resignation. "Very well then. Seeing that you have made your decision, you will have to be dealt with. As such, you will remain here in Pokémon League Headquarters, locked in this room, cut off from the outside world until everything is finished. For your sakes, pray for a quick victory."

Just as Mercier had said that, the grinding of engines could be heard. Lance and Cynthia quickly looked about the room and saw steel panels descend from the ceiling covering the room's walls, encasing them as if they were blast shields, only their purpose was not to defend anyone inside from outside threats, but to keep threats locked inside. They tried to reach the door, but a steel panel quickly rose up in place over it, too.

"I had hoped that you would see reason and side with us like in the old days," Mercier said regretfully. "Sadly, you did not."

"In the old days, the League didn't make deals with criminals to take down those who were objectively good," Cynthia retorted with disgust.

"It won't matter in the end. In the end, we will get what we need and deal with the threat United Earth poses to us before they destroy the Pokémon World," Mercier finished. The moment he finished, the screen went blank and a steel panel covered it.

The moment the screen was covered, Lance and Cynthia immediately went into action. They took out their Poké Balls and let out Dragonite and Garchomp, their two most powerful Pokémon. Once they were out of their Poké Balls, they landed on the ground, the ground shaking as Lance's Dragonite landed.

"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam on the door to take it down," Lance commanded. "It'll likely be shielded so don't hold back."

Cynthia's eyes went wide with shock and she turned to Lance, concerned. "Wait, are you sure you want to do that right now?" she asked, knowing that if the shield were a reflector shield of some sort that Dragonite, and they, could take tremendous, if not fatal, damage from his reflected attack. "If that shield is a reflector of some sort, all Dragonite would do is doom himself and us with him."

"We don't have a choice," Lance answered. "We're no good to Ash and Mia stuck here. With the Pokémon League's betrayal, they'll need all the help they can get. This is it."

Eventually, Cynthia saw where Lance was coming from and said, "Okay, proceed."

Lance then turned to Dragonite and nodded, indicating that he should continue with the attack. The dragon immediately reared back and powered a Hyper Beam attack, targeting the panel over the door. The moment he did so, though, a faint hissing sound could be heard. Cynthia immediately recognized what the sound meant and cried, "Gas!"

Wasting no time, Lance issued a new command to Dragonite. "Dragonite, forget the Hyper Beam. Use Ice Beam on the entire room! Freeze everything!"

But it was too late, for Dragonite had already unleashed the Hyper Beam on the door. Sure enough, a shield flared into existence as the orange beam of energy struck it, stopping the beam for a split second before the beam overpowered the shield and collapsed it, continuing to the armor panel plowing through it as if it were made of tissue paper, and continuing to the door, blowing through it with no difficulty.

The moment the hole was made in the door, Lance and Cynthia bolted for the door, holding their breath so that they would not risk breathing in the gas. However, it was not enough, for the gas merely had to make contact with their skin in order to affect them. As they made their way for the door, which was only a dozen feet away, they could feel their feet becoming heavier and heavier, as were their eyelids. Looking over to Dragonite and Garchomp, they saw that the two Pokémon had already succumbed to the gas and were lying on the ground, their chests rising and falling rhythmically, indicating that they were unconscious but not dead. There was that at least. The two Champions staggered forward, hoping to make it out of the room before falling, but it was not to be. Just as they reached the door, they both fell to the ground and remained still, their only signs of life being the rising and falling of their chests.

Just outside the room stood a man wearing a gasmask and several guards who were dressed in full body armor and nuclear, biological, and chemical protective gear. The man was instantly recognized as the World Pokémon League President Jean Mercier. They went over to the fallen Lance and Cynthia and relieved them of their Poké Balls, taking the two that were for Dragonite and Garchomp and returned the two sleeping Pokémon to them. One of the guards looked down at the sleeping Lance and Cynthia and took out what looked to be an old Earth slugthrower.

"What do you want us to do with them?" the guard asked Mercier.

"The gas should keep them out for a while," he answered. "Take them to the dungeon. Make sure that they are relieved of all Poké Balls and search them for weapons and tools as well. We can't afford for them to have any means of escape."

"Yes sir," the guard answered.

The guards then picked up Lance and Cynthia by the arms and dragged them out of the room, making sure to search them for additional Poké Balls and weapons. The last thing they wanted was to leave two very irate Champions anything they could use in order to escape and bring down the headquarters, and possibly the Pokémon League should they get out and make their story public.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Ash and Mia could only listen to the explanation in shock. "Has the League lost its mind?" Ash cried. "These actions will only cause Earth and the Federation to crack down that much harder on the Pokémon League, and the Pokémon World while we're at it. The Federation doesn't belong to Elric or Cyrus anymore. They're dead. The Federation would not have had a problem with the Pokémon League, unless…"

"Now you understand," the Alex declared. "The Federation will have issues with how the Pokémon League is currently handling itself. We have found better ways to contain Pokémon and control them."

"And the Federation _will_ have problems with that."

The officials nodded. "It will investigate the League and find a reason to take over not only the League, but the entire Pokémon World! They will say that we are in violations of the Pokémon's rights as sentient beings and will disband the League. It will be the death of our culture!"

"A culture of slavery?" Ash challenged. "Ever since I can remember, my dream was to become the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Now I've at least partially achieved that dream. In addition, I always used to think that the Pokémon League stood for justice and virtue and that it was evidence that both humans and Pokémon could live together in peace, prosperity, and equality."

"It is," Lara interjected.

"But from the way you talk, it's almost as if you're resigning Pokémon to slavery just so you can preserve the Pokémon League, as well as the Pokémon World, as _you_ know it," Ash continued. "Mia talked with me about this earlier. She warned me that the way Pokémon were viewed was that they were basically little more than pets at best, rather than true friends and partners. I didn't want to believe it because I didn't view my Pokémon that way at all, but looking back, she's right, and it was staring me right in the face the whole time. This is nothing but a world of slavery and injustice, especially now, since you've sided with Team Rocket! And what's worse is that no one will see the larger part of the Pokémon World and Pokémon League that did _not_ side with Team Rocket throughout this ordeal."

"The Pokémon World wasn't like that!" Alex countered. The teens could not help but notice that he was using the past tense in the statement.

"But it is now," Mia retorted harshly. "But it won't be that way for long," she said more evenly, and slyly. She then pulled out a small recorder from her backpack. She pushed a single button and the entire conversation played back for everyone to hear. "It looks like United Earth and the Federation will have everything they need to make a decision. And if they decide to take over, you will have no one to blame but yourselves. Heck, the civilians probably won't have a problem reintegrating with the rest of the world, assuming they want us, that is. The only way the Pokémon World will save itself and be able to remain a separate entity now is to destroy Team Rocket and reform the League, or rather, show the rest of the world that the League isn't based on a culture of slavery. And that means getting rid of the garbage, i.e. you. Don't worry, though, that won't be too difficult since I'll also give a copy of everything you just said to Charles Goodshow, Lance and Cynthia."

The officials seethed and tried to think of what to do. Mia was right. Everything they were doing would do nothing but cause the Federation to decide that the best option was to take over the entire Pokémon World. And the worst thing was that the civilians likely would not care after hearing what the Pokémon League, or rather, some of its members, who were secret members of Team Rocket, were doing. In their efforts to save the Pokémon World, they would, instead, cause its demise.

"Why are you engaging in this talk?" Giovanni bellowed to the officials. "They'll never come around!"

The officials scowled and turned back to Ash and Mia, giving their ultimatum, "Ash, Mia, you have one last chance to avoid going to jail, or, more likely, dying. Surrender to the will of the Pokémon League now and we will let you off with a warning. Team Rocket has its faults, and was a criminal organization, but now it is a part of the Pokémon League out of necessity. If you do not, you will be viewed as traitors to the League, and World, and your titles, records, and accomplishments will be stripped from you and your Pokémon will be confiscated and given to other Trainers at best. At worst, you will be sent to prison, or even executed for the crimes you have committed here. Don't be fools. Join us. Join us, or face the consequences."

Ash and Mia glanced at each other and back at their Pokémon. Each of their Pokémon gave defiant looks and growled, nodding. The teens knew that their Pokémon would support them if they refused the League's offer. They then stared down the officials and declared, "No! You always have been part of Team Rocket and even if the Pokémon League believes your lies, not everyone will. The truth will be revealed." They then motioned for the officials. "Come and get us, if you can," they challenged. With that, Ash and Mia's Pokémon went on the offensive. Pikachu, Charizard, and Sceptile, along with Mia's Tyranitar squared off against the Lake Guardians, while the rest of the Pokémon turned and dealt with the Pokémon League's Pokémon. Jolteon targeted Feraligatr with a Thunderbolt and unleashed it towards it. However, Rhyperior's presence attracted the bolt of lightning to its horn and before it could take down Feraligatr and it was redirected to the Ground/Rock-type Pokémon.

Ash's Blastoise quickly picked up the slack as he stepped forward and warned all friendly Pokémon to get behind him. He then unleashed a torrent of water form his water cannons. The water came out in the form of a wave and crashed bore down upon the enemy Pokémon. Even worse, was the fact that a noticeable amount of the team was quite vulnerable to Water-type attacks. The League officials' Pokémon attempted to evade the wave, but seeing that they would be unable to do so, they focused their firepower on the wave, unleashing a large variety of elemental attacks. However, Starmie quickly came in to assist Blastoise and unleashed a Surf attack of its own. The wave of water came crashing towards the Pokémon and the additional strength of Starmie's Surf was more than enough to overcome the enemy Pokémon's attempt to counter it.

The wave crashed down upon them and carried them backwards, sending them reeling. The part Flying-type Salamence, and Latios, who was able to fly, despite his typing, quickly rocketed up into the air to avoid the wave of water, but its comrades were not so fortunate. Even though Blaziken jumped into the air and launched a Fire Blast at Ash's Sceptile, who was currently engaging the Lake Guardians, the attack went wide since Sceptile saw it coming and it scored a direct hit on Mesprit instead, causing the Pokémon to move forward a few feet before it could recover. Gravity soon came into play and Blaziken soon fell back to the pad, and into the water. The Surf carried Blaziken back along with the other Pokémon, but being unable to brace itself against the initial surge, it was carried away with the tide. The wave of water continued until it fell over the edge of the pad, carrying Blaziken with it. The chicken-like Pokémon fell several stories before hitting an outcropping office roof, the water from Surf continuing to crash down on the now grievously injured Pokémon as it fell the rest of the way to the ground.

As for the other Pokémon, Rhyperior's Ground/Rock typing meant that it sustained four times the normal damage from the Surf attacks and it was quickly knocked out, freeing Jolteon to deal with Feraligatr. Typhlosion, also being a Fire-type, fell quickly to the two Surfs and was another casualty of the battle. The rest of the Pokémon managed to resist the attack, but any Pokémon that did not have a type resistance to Water-type attacks still suffered significant damage, with Swampert falling due to the damage it had received in the earlier exchange.

Elsewhere in the battle, Jolteon quickly dealt with Feraligatr, before it could launch a Surf attack of its own, with a single Thunderbolt. The bolt of lightning was more than powerful enough to take down the alligator. Mia's Venusaur unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder at the other Pokémon in order to try and take them out of the fight. Salamence and Latios were too high to be affected, and they tried to deal with it with two Flamethrower attacks, but the attacks were quickly intercepted by a Stone Edge barrage from Donphan. Chandelure also launched a Shadow Ball towards Latios, wanting to take down the psychic dragon before he inflicted significant damage to Ash and Mia's teams. The Stone Edge barrage powered through the flames and struck both Salamence and Latios. Some of the flames managed to get through the cracks in the Stone Edge barrage and burn areas of the Sleep Powder cloud, but its power had been greatly reduced. Chandelure's Shadow Ball also scored a direct hit on Latios, causing an explosion that produced a large cloud of smoke, obscuring the Pokémon. After a few seconds, the Pokémon fell out of the smoke cloud, wisps of black smoke trailing it as it fell to the ground below. A single Ice Beam from Blastoise was enough to freeze Salamence solid and send it, too, crashing down to the ground. Fortunately, it had been flying towards the helipad in an attempt to launch into an Outrage attack so when it was frozen and hit the ground, it did not shatter.

Not too far away, Pikachu, Charizard, Sceptile, and Tyranitar were engaging the Lake Trio. Venusaur unleashed a barrage of Bullet Seed at the Trio, but the Lake Guardians simply rose above the cloud and prepared to counter with Psychic when a trio of attacks scored direct hits on them. Pikachu and Charizard hit Uxie and Mesprit with Thunderbolt and Fire Blast attacks respectively, while Tyranitar was careful to be the only one to target Azelf. He fired a Dark Pulse at the Willpower Pokémon, scoring a direct hit. This time, the attack was strong enough to take down the Pokémon. However, Giovanni quickly rushed over to administer a Max Revive to him. Seeing this, Tyranitar went to stop him by firing a Stone Edge barrage at him, forcing him to retreat in fear of his own life. Uxie and Mesprit wanted to help their fallen comrade, but they had their hands full with Charizard, Pikachu, and Sceptile, who had just scored a direct hit on Uxie with Energy Ball. So far, things were not looking good for Team Rocket.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a beach scene on one of the Hawaiian Islands, lights lit up the night as people and families went on rides, attended concerts, and played in the arcades. One of the families consisted of a Pokémon family. Mew and her mate for life had used Transform to assume the guise of a normal human family. Mew assumed the guise of a young woman in her mid twenties with red hair and green eyes. She wore a normal casual beach outfit. Her mate took the guise of a young man with brown hair and bluish gray eyes. He was slightly taller than Mew, who stood at almost six feet in height. They had even placed rings on their ring fingers to show that they were married and while their Pokémon World mating was not technically a marriage, since marriage was a human ceremony, for all intents and purposes, their mating was the same thing, for they had taken identical vows and stated they would be together for life and not take another mate for as long as they lived, which would likely be a very long time since they were already almost a thousand years old.

Mew and her mate frolicked around the boardwalk, playing games, going on rides, attending beachside concerts, and the like. They were all having a great deal of fun and did not have a single care in the world. That is, all except their son, Mewtwo. Mewtwo had no interest in concerts, going on rides, or in playing arcades. He just wanted to go back to Cerulean Cave and live alone, without any of the distractions that came from such a loud place.

He sat on top of one of the hotels overlooking the boardwalk that was close to the amusement park looked down at the families groups of people that were assembled on the boardwalk and at the amusement park. He watched the people of all ages walk by, with some riding by on bicycles. Gazing around, he did not see the signs of the extremely advanced technology that were so common in the United Earth nations. Save for the advanced look of some of the roller coasters, there was no sign that this city was really any different from any of the cities of the Pokémon World regions.

Just as he began to think about the Pokémon World, a feeling came to him. He sensed a gathering of power, a dark power at that, somewhere in the Kanto Region of Japan. His eyes flashed as the realization that it was in the Kanto Region came. He could vaguely sense an assembly of Legendary Pokémon gathering at that location. He tried to scan to see if it was in or around Cerulean City. Fortunately, it was not too close to Cerulean City or Cerulean Cave. Still, he thought that this assembly warranted further investigation, especially since he thought that he could sense his one and only human friend in the middle of this gathering.

He was about to go and investigate when he heard a loud female voice cry from behind, "Oh look, it's such a cute Pokémon. I've gotta catch him!"

Mewtwo sighed and looked back, ready to reflect whatever Poké Ball was about to be thrown at him, and likely knock unconscious both Trainer and Pokémon when he saw the young human forms of his parents. His eyes flashed and their human disguises instantly disappeared, revealing their true forms. "What do you want?" he asked, shrugging.

"You're moping around up here instead of joining us down on the boardwalk and having fun," Mew replied, almost pouting.

"I sensed something going on in the Kanto Region of Japan. There is a gathering of Legendary Pokémon in a single area. There is also a dark sensation along with the power, as well as a battle brewing. I'm going to investigate."

"No you're not!" Mew countered, her eyes flashing a deep red, blocking Mewtwo's attempt to teleport. "You're gonna stay here with your father and me and have fun. There's a rock and jazz concert going on down on the beach. C'mon! Let's go!"

Mew then grabbed Mewtwo's arm and tried to drag him off the roof. He refused to budge, though, and he remained still until his father joined his mother, managing to pull him off the spot and drag him down to the concert. Mew and her mate transformed back into their human disguises and dragged Mewtwo down to the concert. They must have placed an illusory disguise over Mewtwo to make him look like their human son, for none of the people were giving him second looks or puzzled glances. Still, Mew's human form was drawing the gazes of numerous males. She also made no effort to ward them away as she fluttered her eyes at them as she went to the concert and began to dance. As they danced, though, Mewtwo merely stood in a corner and shrugged, trying to think of a way to escape and go back to Japan. He felt as if he needed to investigate what was going on in Kanto, especially since he was worried that his one human friend may have been in danger.

Back at Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni and the Pokémon League officials watched the battle with keen interest. They were growing quite concerned with how it was progressing, for even with their experienced Pokémon, and the presence of the seemingly enhanced Lake Guardians, the battle was greatly favoring Ash and Mia Ketchum. A Stone Edge attack and Fire Blast pushed back Uxie and Mesprit as they attempted to launch Psychic attacks on Tyranitar and Charizard. Still, the Legendaries were able to battle, but the battle was beginning to take its toll on them.

The battle would soon be interrupted, though as a helicopter rose came seemingly from underneath the pad and rose to meet them. It was gray helicopter that looked to resemble an attack helicopter, but had a passenger compartment. It was unmarked so there was no way to know its affiliation. When it appeared, all of the combatants stopped their battling and glanced over at the helicopter, waiting to see which side it was on. It continued to rise until it was about thirty feet above them. It then hovered above the helipad and made no moves.

The remaining League Pokémon soon continued their attack, with Meganium releasing a barrage of Razor Leaf, and Sceptile unleashing a barrage of Bullet Seed at Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Chandelure intercepted the attacks using Flamethrower and reduced the leaves and seeds to ashes. The attack also struck Meganium and was quickly swept over to Sceptile. Meganium was defeated almost instantly while Blastoise helped deal with the Sceptile as it attempted to evade the Flamethrower. Looking over at the Pokémon League officials' Pokémon, the group saw that only Blissey, Espeon, and Umbreon were still able to battle, along with Uxie and Mesprit of the Lake Trio, while Ash and Mia still had all of their Pokémon, though the constant battling was beginning to wear on them. Charizard was breathing heavily, Pikachu barely had any electricity left for attacking, and Tyranitar was showing signs of strain too. Given that the other Pokémon had also had their share of fighting, chances were that they were also winded, too.

The League officials, however, did not like where the battle was going. Even with Ash and Mia's Pokémon beginning to tire, they did not know if they would last long enough to deal with the few stragglers that remained, and even if their Pokémon managed to outlast Ash and Mia's, both teens were armed and while Ash would not use deadly force against them, Mia most certainly would. They quickly drew their Ray Guns and took aim at Mia. This proved to be a fatal mistake, for Mia quickly drew her own weapon and snapped off two shots at them. The shots struck both Alex and Lara in the chest, instantly killing both of them. Once the two "League officials" had been dealt with, Mia turned to face Giovanni, crying, "Surrender now Giovanni! The battle is over."

" _You_ surrender, or face the consequences," came a sinister voice from above. Looking at the helicopter, Ash and Mia saw Butch, the one who had spoken, Cassidy, and the four Rocket Brothers, along with May, Dawn, Tracey, and their mother. Butch and Cassidy held two Ray Guns to the head of their mother, and the four Rocket Brothers each held guns to the rest of his friends. "Surrender now Ash and Leaf, or we start killing your friends and family, starting with your mother!" Butch threatened. His sadistic grin was all they needed to see to know that he was serious. He then began to pull the trigger.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Ash and Mia's stared up at Butch and their eyes going wide in horror as they saw Butch preparing to kill their mother. "No, wait!" Ash cried holding his hands up and discarding his Ray Gun.

"You know the terms," Cassidy called. "Surrender or your mother dies. And after her, then the rest of your friends!"

Looking at Mia desperately, he said, "I can't let them kill Mom."

Mia's look echoed his sentiment and her thoughts flared with their new bond. She was trying to formulate a plan for saving their mother and friends, but she could not come up with one that guaranteed their safety. She then looked over at Ash and shook her head in a defeated fashion. Looking up, at Butch and Cassidy, Ash and Mia declared, "We surrender." Mia then dropped her Ray Gun to her feet and kicked it away. Jessie, James, and Meowth quickly came up from behind to cover the others.

Looking down at Jessie and James, he told them, "Bind their hands and make sure it hurts."

Jessie and James took a spool of rope and approached the two teens. Gripping their shoulders and forcing them to the ground, they bound their hands behind their backs. Once they were finished, they backed away a few feet.

"We've done our part, now do yours," Mia declared. "Release the hostages."

Butch merely sniggered. "No," he replied. "And before you decide to try to force us to do so, remember that we're up here and you're trapped down there. If you move on us, your mom and friends all die."

A series of ropes soon fell from the helicopter. A dozen Rockets and Pokémon League officials soon descended down the ropes and appeared on the scene, releasing their Pokémon, mostly consisting of the Johto starters, but also of the Sinnoh starters: Infernape, Torterra, a large green and brown tortoise-like Pokémon with a tree on its back, and Empoleon, a human sized Pokémon that resembled a penguin with a blue and black coloring, among others like Machamp, Alakazam, and even a Glaceon. The new arrivals outnumbered Ash and Mia's exhausted Pokémon. Still, the teens were not willing to surrender now, not with Team Rocket not holding up its end of the bargain, even though they had suspected that they would never do so anyway. Even though Mia knew that it would be stupid for Team Rocket to kill her mother and Ash's friends when they could still be used as leverage over the two teens, she also knew that these Rockets were sadistic but also not all that bright. They may decide to kill them just to make the kids feel helpless. She would not let that happen. As such, it was time to take action and while her plan was risky, it was the only real chance they had at saving her mother and Ash's friends. She subtly glanced over at Ash and their twin bond flared, Ash quickly realizing what she was about to do.

Mia began the rebellion by kicking Jessie in the leg, causing her to cry out in pain. She then lowered herself and performed a leg sweep, knocking the Rocket off her feet. The moment she did so, Starmie used Psychic to cut the ropes binding her hands and Ash's. She then went for the Ray Gun just as the Pokémon League troopers prepared to draw their own guns in response to her action. She got the gun and, seeing a trooper take aim at Ash just as he kicked James and spun away from the Rocket, she fired. A green beam erupted from the gun's barrel and scored a direct hit on the League trooper, hitting squarely in the chest, burning a fist-sized hole in it, felling him. She then targeted Butch and Cassidy inside the helicopter and took two shots, being careful to make sure that neither of her shots put any of the captives in danger. Her first shot went wide of Butch, but it managed to force him to recoil and dive away from her mother. Her second shot hit Cassidy on the side of her arm, causing her to cry out in pain as she fell, clutching the burn on her arm. That was the cue for Delia and the other captives to fight back against the Pokémon League officials and Team Rocket. May ducked a punch from one of the Rocket Brothers and responded with a kick to the knee, causing the Rocket Brother to cry out in agony a sickening crack of bones indicating that his knee was broken. She then pushed him out the open hatch, where he fell to the ground, over the edge since the helicopter was still a few feet away from the pad. The Brother cried as he fell to his death, the unfortunate Rocket hitting the ground headfirst over eleven stories below.

Dawn and Tracey, not ones to sit around and do nothing while others fought to save them, also managed to sever their bonds and free themselves. Another Rocket Brother immediately came over to Tracey to try to either subdue him or kill him, but Tracey ducked beneath his attempt to grab him used the Rocket Brother's own momentum against him as he shoved the Rocket off of the helicopter, and to his death below. Dawn managed to free herself from her bonds and was engaged in a fight with her captor. He attempted to grab her, the Rocket Brother leering at the girl as he reached for her, but she ducked underneath him and kicked him in the knee, causing him to howl in pain and hop around on one leg. This was unfortunate for him because as he was hopping, he lost his balance and fell out of the helicopter, and onto the pavement more than eleven stories below.

Delia, not willing to let everyone else fight and not participate in the battle, herself, went over to deal with the final Rocket Brother. With skills she never knew she had, she parried his initial punch and countered by hitting him in the face with an open palm strike. As he was sent reeling, she delivered a side kick to the abdomen which sent him reeling even farther back, and off of the helicopter, and onto the pavement over eleven stories below. As the Rockets saw the fall of the Rocket Brothers, they became a little more cautious around Delia and the other captives. They were not as weak in physical fights as they had initially believed.

As the fighting was continuing once more, though, Giovanni and the Pokémon League troopers decided that it was time to put an end to this costly battle. Calling out a Parasect from a Poké Ball, one of the troopers inside the passenger compartment of the helicopter commanded, "Parasect, cut the ropes and use Spore on everyone in here."

Parasect looked back at him questioningly.

"Don't ask questions," the trooper blurted, "just do it!"

Parasect then went to cut the ropes, but Charizard still had some fight left in him. Seeing that Parasect was about to unleash a Spore cloud, as well as cut the ropes, he let loose with a Fire Blast. The blast of flame streaked towards the bug and mushroom-like Pokémon, entered the helicopter without even grazing the sides of the hull, and scored a direct hit on Parasect, taking it down with one attack. Delia and the others quickly freed themselves, Delia grabbing the wounded Cassidy's Ray Gun, and opened fire on the remaining Rockets inside, covering the teens as they made their way to the ropes and slid down them. She took down several Rockets, the stunned helicopter crew members unable to go for their own weapons before falling to her hail of energy fire, and caused the others to dive for cover. Before following the others off the helicopter, though, she went over and retrieved the Poké Balls of the other captives, as well as those of Ash's Pokémon that had been helping her in the fighting. Once she had retrieved them, she rushed to the ropes before the pilot managed to get back into his seat and take the controls, and fly the helicopter off the building's edge. She grabbed one of the ropes and slid down just as the helicopter was beginning to fly away from the building and cut off her escape. Seeing that she would not be able to hold on and still touch down onto the pad, Delia let go and fell to the ground from about ten feet in the air. The helicopter then backed off and seemed to flee the fight, flying away from the building.

She touched down softly and rushed over to the other teens. Standing in front of them were four Rocket Agents: Tyson, a thickly muscled man with brown hair, black eyes, and wearing a tight blue long sleeved shirt with a gray vest with a red R on it; Pierce, a man with dark blue hair that fell down to his shoulders, olive green eyes, and wearing a dark gray jacket and blue pants; Viper, the muscular drill sergeant of Team Rocket that had a purple mohawk and wore a black uniform with two gold bars on each shoulder, indicating his rank; and Wendy, a female Team Rocket Agent with short green hair that fell to just above her shoulders, red eyes, and a standard Team Rocket uniform. "That's far enough," the thickly muscled Tyson stated menacingly as he tossed his Poké Balls into the air and let out his Pokémon, consisting of Crobat, Weezing, and the demon dog-like Houndoom. The rest of the Rockets also deployed their own Pokémon with Piece sending out Magnezone, Alakazam, and Vileplume, a plant-like Pokémon with a short, rotund purple body with red polka dotted petals on its head; with Wendy sending out a Crobat and a Magneton, and Viper sending out five Koffings and one Weezing.

Delia and the others wasted no time grabbing the Poké Balls and opening them, calling, "Everyone, come on out! We need you!"

The entire teams for Ash's friends and Delia came out, with Serperior, Infernape, Gigalith, Staraptor, Swellow, Scrafty, and Talonflame coming to aid Delia and the others. The teams quickly formed up around their Trainers and the Rockets stared at the teams, looks of alarm crossing their faces, save for Pierce, who had actual combat experience, seeing that they were outnumbered by the Pokémon of Ash's friends and family. Still, they knew that they could not allow Delia and the others to support Ash and Mia, so, knowing that they would likely lose, they cried, "Everyone go! Attack them now!"

Upon hearing the command, Team Rocket's Pokémon charged Delia, the others, and their Pokémon. Ash's friends and mother merely cried, "Everyone go!" And with that, they, too, charged towards Team Rocket.

Elsewhere on the pad, the fighting between Ash, Mia, and Team Rocket and the Pokémon League was getting furious once more. Ash performed a side kick on James of Team Rocket, forcing him away. The unfortunate Rocket agent was then hit with a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. As Pikachu was taking on James, though, Meowth blindsided him with a Fury Swipes attack from behind. Pikachu gave a cry as he took the hits, but turned and knocked Meowth unconscious with a retaliatory Iron Tail. Meanwhile, Sceptile was battling with Torterra and gave better than she got as she took it down with a Leaf Blade.

The Lake Trio also reentered the battle, with Giovanni using the lull in the fighting, and the confusion as it started again, to use a Max Revive on Azelf, bringing it back into the fight. Charizard and Tyranitar tried to hold them off, but they were showing their fatigue as they only launched a Stone Edge attack and Flamethrower at two of the Pokémon, Azelf and Mesprit, allowing Uxie to teleport away from them. Azelf and Mesprit recoiled from the attacks but were still able to fight. Azelf used Psychic to send Charizard flying through the air as Tyranitar was hit from behind by a Water Pulse from a Swampert. While Swampert was swiftly dealt with by Mia's Venusaur when it launched a Razor Leaf barrage, Mesprit was still able to escape and make its way towards Ash and Mia.

"Now!" Giovanni called to the Lake Guardians. "End the fight!"

Ash was searching for Mia so he could help her when Uxie appeared directly in front of him. "Uxie!" he blurted in shock as Uxie opened its eyes, looking Ash squarely in the eyes. Just before Uxie could make eye contact with Ash, though, the boy closed his eyes and crouched in order to avoid Uxie's gaze.

Mia, seeing Ash duck beneath Uxie's gaze, feared the worst until she saw him back away, his eyes closed. She rushed over to try to help him against Uxie when Azelf and Mesprit appeared in front of her. She dodged their attempts to touch her and sap her willpower and emotion as Ash's Pikachu and her Venusaur quickly engaged the other two Lake Guardians.

Azelf attempted to avoid getting bogged down fighting Pikachu and headed towards Ash, trying to attack him directly, but Tyranitar intercepted the Pokémon and knocked the Lake Guardian away, allowing Pikachu to head over to Ash unimpeded. Since Tyranitar was part Dark-type, he was unaffected by Azelf's special ability and could wail on him with impunity. Starmie and Chandelure then joined Mia in order to cover her, which left Mesprit free to attack. Ash ran to assist her as Mesprit was about to drain her of her emotions and he tried to knock the Pokémon away. Mesprit quickly rose into the air, staring at him. Ash looked up at the Pokémon, scarcely believing that the Lake Guardians would be working for Team Rocket willingly. "Why?" he asked in disbelief.

Mesprit gave no answer and simply rushed towards Ash once more, only to be met with a volley of gray stones as Tyranitar intercepted it with Stone Edge to keep the Pokémon at bay. Mia quickly joined the battle, calling over to Venusaur, "Venusaur, use Sleep Powder to put the Lake Guardians to sleep!" She hoped that by using Sleep Powder, Venusaur would not be put in any danger from the effects of the Guardians from when they were attacked.

The trio made it a lot more difficult than she wished, though, rising into he air and using Psychic to create a blue energy field around Venusaur. The trio then sent the Pokémon flying through the air. Chandelure used its own psychic powers to arrest Venusaur's momentum and bring him down safely. Ash's Venusaur soon went to cover for Mia's Pokémon, unleashing a cloud of Sleep Powder towards the Legendary Pokémon. Mesprit and Azelf were able to avoid the cloud, but Uxie was too slow to respond and some of the powder made contact with its skin. The Pokémon floated above the rest of the cloud, hoping that the small amount that managed to touch its skin would not put it to sleep. So far, it was okay as Venusaur followed up with an Energy Ball, the Legendary Pokémon managing to avoid the attack and continue fighting.

Not too far away, Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey were badly mauling the Team Rocket Agents that were arrayed against them. Their superior numbers did more than make a difference. Even had the numbers been equal, the outcome would be no different. They had turned a battle where they would have already held the advantage, into a complete rout. Viper's five Koffings and Weezing were the first Pokémon to fall, having been taken down by May's Blaziken and Blastoise. Dawn's Typhlosion and Mamoswine took down Wendy's Crobat and Magneton with a Flamethrower and Blizzard attack respectively.

Tyson and Pierce saw how the Pokémon of their fellow Rockets were beaten and decided that they needed a new plan fast. They called over to their Pokémon, "Everyone fall back and regroup!"

The Pokémon looked back at them, the surprise at the order evident on their faces. Still, they were smart enough to know that they did not stand a chance, being outnumbered more than three-to-one and having to face down multiple Pokémon that had a type advantage over them. They did not get the chance to regroup, though, as Gigalith stepped forward and stomped on the ground, using Earthquake. Magnezone, who had gone to ground to avoid a Flamethrower from May's Blaziken, Alakazam, and Houndoom were taken down with the Earthquake, their type disadvantage partially being responsible for their undoing. Crobat, Weezing, and Vileplume stepped back and prepared to unleash a barrage of attacks. "Vileplume, use Sleep Powder, Weezing, use Sludge Bomb, Crobat, use Supersonic," Tyson and Pierce cried towards their Pokémon.

Their Pokémon looked back at them, nodding, Vileplume letting out a cloud of Sleep Powder while Weezing launched a Sludge Bomb and Crobat let loose a Supersonic attack on Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey's Pokémon. Typhlosion and Blaziken stepped forward and incinerated the Sleep Powder cloud, along with the Vileplume, without being given any orders from Dawn or May, the receiving Pokémon fortunate to not be killed by the two Flamethrowers unleashed upon them. Crobat's Supersonic proved to be ineffective as well, failing to confuse any of its targets. Pachirisu promptly fried Crobat with Discharge, the bat-like Pokémon falling out of the sky, and crashing to the helipad, unconscious. Finally, the rest of the allied Pokémon finished off Weezing with a barrage of attacks. The Poison-type gasbag did not stand a chance. Still, the Rockets were not beaten yet.

The Rockets quickly recalled their fallen Pokémon and backed away a few more feet. As they backed away, they drew their Ray Guns and took aim at the Pokémon and Trainers that were arrayed against them. They knew that they would not be able to take down all of their enemies. Still, they felt as if they could still do _some_ damage against Ash and Mia's friends and family. To that end, they opened fire, spraying a volley of energy blasts at both Trainer and Pokémon. The humans quickly dove to the ground, giving themselves as small a profile as possible, followed quickly by many of the larger Pokémon. Still, there were too many Pokémon that could still fight and were small enough to not be easily spotted targets. Pachirisu and Piplup were the first to counterattack, unleashing a Discharge and a Bubble Beam attack, respectively, against the Rockets.

The Discharge struck Tyson and Pierce and fried them, taking them down and knocking them unconscious. Next came Piplup's Bubble Beam, which targeted Viper. The Rocket drill sergeant saw the attack coming, though, and was able to dive to the ground avoiding it. The bubbles hit a ways away from the Rocket as he grinned back at the Pokémon.

Wendy, seeing that there was little choice, decided that she had to do something fast before they were overwhelmed, given that their firepower had been cut in half with the fall of Tyson and Pierce. She quickly grabbed to orange spheres wrapped in an adhesive and pushed a button on them, causing the orbs to start to glow. Dawn, noticing the glowing bombs, cried to her Pokémon, "Everyone, target the glowing orbs!"

Her Pokémon obeyed and Mamoswine led the attack, firing off a Blizzard right at the two remaining Rockets. The icy winds and snowflakes buffeted Wendy and snow began to build up around his body. The ice began to crystallize and eventually, she was frozen solid by the attack the bombs still flashing in her hands. Viper continued his assault, only to be frozen solid by an Ice Beam from May's Blastoise. The bombs then detonated, blowing apart Wendy, the concussion wave of the blast knocking over the frozen Viper and shattering him. Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Delia and the others left the scene in order to support Ash and Mia against Giovanni.

Not too far away, Ash and Mia's Pokémon continued to fight desperately against the Lake Guardians. Charizard launched a Fire Blast on Uxie, scoring a direct hit on the Legendary Pokémon. The Pokémon recoiled and gave a grunt of pain. It then opened its eyes, trying to draw a bead on Charizard, but the dragon had already rocketed into the air to avoid staring into Uxie's eyes, not wanting to have his mind wiped. Tyranitar continued his battle with Azelf, charging towards the Legendary Pokémon. Azelf responded by firing a Swift attack at the oncoming Rock/Dark-type Pokémon. Yellow stars of energy erupted from the mouth of the pixie and lashed out at Tyranitar. Tyranitar, being resistant to the attack, merely charged through the barrage, allowing the starts to bounce off of his armored hide. The part Dark-type Pokémon then reached out and grabbed Azelf. Bringing it to its mouth, Tyranitar then opened his mouth and bit down on Azelf's head, using Crunch. Azelf gave a cry of pain as it took the full power of the attack. Uxie, however, felt the pain of Azelf and immediately teleported over to its comrade. It then opened its mouth and yawned in Tyranitar's direction. A bubble emerged from its mouth and floated towards Tyranitar. Charizard roared to Tyranitar in warning, but the large Pokémon did not notice the attack until it was too late. The bubble made contact with Tyranitar and popped. The armored Pokémon then began to feel drowsy but continued its battle against Azelf.

Azelf, knowing that it only had to endure perhaps one more attack before Tyranitar would fall asleep, prepared to intercept the attack. Its eyes glowed as Tyranitar charged towards it in order to perform another Crunch. As the large Pokémon went to grab it, it avoided the grab and floated away from Tyranitar. As soon as Tyranitar turned to face it once more, the Pokémon began to slow down. Its charge slowed to a jog as it began to slowly stagger towards Azelf before curling up onto the ground and falling asleep. With Tyranitar asleep, Azelf was free to use its power to attack anyone and everyone else that went against it and its master, Giovanni.

It and the other Lake Guardians soon scanned the battlefield in search of Ash and Mia, knowing that if they dealt with them, that the battle would be won. The Pokémon quickly managed to spot Ash and Mia. Mia fired a single green energy blast at one of the Pokémon League officials that had been drawing a bead on her mother. The beam of energy struck the official in the chest and felled him. A second shot felled the second official. Her attack distracted the troopers away from her family and brother's friends and towards her. She ran away from Ash, trying to draw their attention away from him as well, while he continued to guide his Pokémon in battle against the Lake Guardians. She succeeded and they simply opened fire her way. Their shots went wide and she dove to the ground, making herself as small a target as possible. She was soon supported by Jolteon and Chandelure, who unleashed a Thunderbolt and Flamethrower towards the troopers, respectively. The Pokémon League troopers that were shocked into unconsciousness were the lucky ones, as Chandelure reduced four other League troopers to ashes. Mia smiled as some of the troopers were left alive. She wanted them to be able to answer the questions that the authorities would undoubtedly have whenever they arrived.

As for the Lake Guardians, they were making their way towards the teens when a barrage of attacks came to meet them. Azelf used Detect while Uxie use Endure to endure Blastoise's Surf while Mesprit used Protect to protect itself from the Surf. However, that attack left them open to Charizard's Fire Blast and other attacks. Azelf attempted to use Detect again, but the technique failed and it was unable to avoid the Fire Blast, suffering a direct hit and being sent flying backwards from the hit, crashing into the ground a few meters away. It rose, still able to battle but was unsteady in its floating, the fighting beginning to take its toll on the Legendary. As for Uxie and Mesprit, a Solar Beam from Venusaur scored a direct hit on the Knowledge Pokémon, outright knocking it unconscious, while a subsequent Hydro Pump sent Mesprit flying backwards, and crashing into the body of the disabled helicopter, denting its hull and falling to the ground. The two remaining Lake Guardians rose from their respective positions and stared down the oncoming Pokémon, realizing very quickly that they were vastly outnumbered. It also was not long before the Pokémon of Ash's other allies went to join his and Mia's. They knew that they were about to be in for a world of hurt. Things were looking bad for them.

Meanwhile, on the roof of another sector of the base, Aizen stood next to Genesect's tube, which he had extracted from deep within Team Rocket Headquarters, watching the battle with great interest. His interest, however, had quickly transformed into disgust as Team Rocket was hemorrhaging Legendary Pokémon and troops. Even the Pokémon League soldiers that were fighting alongside Team Rocket were getting mutilated in the fighting.

He fingered his five Poké Balls and considered sending in his own Legendaries to help out Giovanni. He had hoped that Team Rocket would have drawn the attention of Mewtwo and bring the Super Legendary Pokémon out of hiding. He could use Mewtwo's battling with the other Legendaries as cover while he launched his own attack on Mewtwo, hopefully killing him in the surprise attack. However, with the Legendaries being beaten as easily as they were, he doubted that his own Legendaries would make that much of a difference. He would have to come up with another strategy. He surreptitiously scanned the minds of all of the still living combatants on the helipad, of which there were surprisingly few. While there were still plenty of grunts still alive inside the base, with some of them rushing to assist Giovanni on the helipad, he knew that the battle would quickly come to an end. Still, he continued to watch. Perhaps something would happen that would change the current circumstances, make this battle more of a fight, and bring out Mewtwo. Several contingency plans were forming in his mind, though, just in case his target did not show itself. First off, he needed to make sure that all three Lake Guardians were conscious.

Back at the site of the battle, Azelf and Mesprit appeared before Ash with Azelf about to take away his willpower, and Mesprit his emotions, when a Thunderbolt and a blast of fire in the form of a human stick figure lashed out at the two remaining Lake Guardians. Each attack scored a direct hit on the Lake Guardian and forced them away from Ash. Just as the Lake Guardians were being engaged by Pikachu and Charizard, Giovanni stood off at a distance and drew a Ray Gun, leveling its barrel on Ash. He was about to pull the trigger when Mia rushed towards him and struck him in the head with an open palm strike, causing the shot to sail past Ash's head and hit a Rocket Agent that was closing in on Ash. The hit caused Giovanni to stagger backwards a few feet and Ash turned to see him engaging Mia. Ash quickly went over to support his sister in her fight against Giovanni while Team Rocket and their Pokémon continued their engagement with Delia and Ash's friends.

Amidst the fighting, the Rockets and corrupt Pokémon League troopers that had not been killed in the battle were slowly beginning to rise and use any Revives that they had on their strongest Pokémon, hoping that they would be able to take on the hopefully tiring Pokémon of Ash, Mia, and their friends and family. The Hoenn Starters that had been taken down were the first to rise and continue the battle. Soon, they were joined by other Team Rocket Pokémon who had been administered to. However, they would soon be joined by other Rocket Grunts and Agents coming from the exit not too far away. What looked to be a small army of Pokémon, mostly consisting of Grimers, Muks, Koffings, and Weezings, with a few Drowzees, Hypnos, Kadabras, and Alakazams sprinkled in as well, came out to join the battle. They attacked Delia and the others from behind, forcing them to divide their attention. However, despite the surprise attack, the allies' Pokémon were able to intercept it and respond.

Garchomp stepped forward and warned the other allied Pokémon away from her as she stomped on the ground, using Earthquake. The helipad began to shake as rings of energy expanded outward from Garchomp. As the rings of energy expanded, cracks appeared in the metal floor. Bits of metal shot into the air as the ground cracked. The grounded Poison-type Pokémon, Grimer and Muk, that were charging in to use Sludge Bomb and other ranged Poison-type attacks were taken down with single hits as the rings struck them and caused them to cry out in pain as the shock from the attack inflicted enough damage to cause them to faint. The shaking ground also caused several bipedal Pokémon, along with some Rockets, to lose their footing and fall to the ground, or kneel down so that they would not fall uncontrollably. A couple of the Rockets were a little too close to the edges of the platform when the Earthquake came and they stumbled and fell over the edge, and to the ground eleven stories below.

The allied Pokémon were quickly supported by Starmie and Chandelure, both of whom used Psychic to knock out the levitating Poison-type Koffings and Weezings before they could retaliate. With the Poison-type Pokémon having been dealt with, that left only the Drowzees, Hypnos, Kadabras, and Alakazams. With Tyranitar being busy helping Mia, and Ash's Pokémon all engaged in battles of their own, it was up to the allied Pokémon, Starmie, and Chandelure to deal with the enemy psychic Pokémon. Chandelure started the battle by firing a Shadow Ball at the lead Pokémon of the enemy force, scoring a direct hit on the Alakazam, taking it down with one hit. The other Pokémon turned to focus on Chandelure, seeing it as the greatest threat, only to suffer from a Metal Claw from Tracey's Scizor, who tore into the fray and began slashing with its claws every which way, scattering Team Rocket's Pokémon. Scrafty, who was immune to Psychic-type attacks, also charged in to support his allies. Just as it had been with the rest of the battle, things were looking very grim for Team Rocket.

Not too far away from the battle against Team Rocket's reinforcements, Ash and Mia pressed their attack on Giovanni, Mia throwing a flurry of punches and even a couple of kicks, with Ash managing to block a punch from Giovanni, though he had to back off to massage his wrist. Mia demonstrated noticeable skills in the martial arts as she kept Giovanni on the defensive. However, the battle would not last, for Azelf would soon join the battle on Giovanni's side. Pikachu, Charizard, and Tyranitar quickly tried to join the fight, only to be intercepted by Mesprit and a recently revived Uxie, who were backed up by a Typhlosion, Meganium, and Feraligatr. Looking behind them, they saw a Rocket agent motioning towards them. Apparently, he had given the unconscious Pokémon, a Revive or Max Revive. "Everyone, focus on those three Pokémon! Mesprit, Uxie, focus on Charizard and Pikachu. The rest of you, take care of that Tyranitar. Under no circumstances are you to allow those Pokémon to get through and fight Azelf! We must protect the boss at all costs!"

The Pokémon nodded as they rushed towards Ash and Mia's Pokémon. With all of the Pokémon busy fighting the Team Rocket Grunts and Pokémon League soldiers that had merely been knocked unconscious, rather than killed, including Jessie, James, and Meowth once more, as well as Ash going to assist his Pokémon against Mesprit and Uxie, Mia was on her own against both Giovanni and Azelf. Giovanni recoiled from a side kick to the chest and staggered backwards. Mia was about to charge in and finish the job when she found her movements restricted by a blue energy field that encompassed her entire body. Try as she might, she was unable to move. Giovanni, who had already recovered from the kick, gave a dark grin went over to pick up his discarded Ray Gun.

"You may be a skilled fighter and Pokémon Trainer, but in the end, you're just a little girl who got in over her head," he gloated as he went to level the weapon on the helpless girl. He was about to fire when Ash rushed towards him and surprise attacked him, punching him in the head, causing him to recoil. Ash then went to grab the Ray Gun and pull it away from Giovanni, but the man resisted and the two struggled for control of the gun. Not only that, but Tyranitar managed to unleash a Stone Edge on Azelf, hurting it and causing it to lose its concentration and break off its attack on Mia. It soon turned and stared at Mia, drawing a bead on her, powering an Extrasensory attack when Tyranitar came up from behind and used Crunch on it. Soon, she went to assist Ash against Giovanni. Giovanni had managed to wrest the Ray Gun free from Ash and knocked him down with a punch to the gut, causing Ash's eyes to go wide with pain as he keeled over in shock and pain. Giovanni went to level the Ray Gun at Ash, saying, "It's over boy. You just weren't cut out for this type of heroics," when a bolt of lightning flashed past Mia's face and strike Giovanni squarely in the chest, electricity arcing across his body as Ash struggled to rise but eventually managed to do so. Turning her gaze back onto Giovanni, Mia saw that he was shuddering, as if he were trying to move but was still afflicted with paralysis from the Thunderbolt that had been unleashed on him.

Turning behind her, she saw Pikachu's cheeks still crackling with electricity as he gave a satisfied nod and quickly turned back to help Charizard with Uxie and Mesprit, both he and Charizard being careful to avoid looking into Uxie's eyes. Turning back to Azelf, she noticed that despite the damage taken from Tyranitar's Crunch, Azelf appeared to still be able to battle. It turned and focused its attention towards Mia, intending to carry out its master's orders, despite the fact that its master had taken a hit from Pikachu and was in no condition to fight. It soon went to fire the beam of Extrasensory at Mia when it was blindsided once more by Tyranitar. Charizard and Pikachu also wanted to join the fight, but were warned away by Tyranitar. They, instead, went to deal with Uxie and Mesprit, both of who were heading over to Ash to take him down. When they arrived, he turned to them and assured them, "I'm fine. I got out of there before Giovanni was hit."

Mia, who was now free from Azelf's control, joined Ash so she could help him and the others finish the fight. However, the Lake Guardians had other plans and quickly charged towards the group, their eyes glowing. Mia and Pokémon arrived before the Lake Guardians and barred their way. As it was, a Drowzee under the control of Team Rocket, seeing that a battle was about to be waged close to their master, along with the presence of the girl who would want nothing more than to finish him off, used Psychic to pull the now incapacitated Giovanni out of the fray at the command of a Team Rocket Grunt, who was trying to support Jessie, James, and Meowth in dealing with Ash's Venusaur, Blastoise, and Sceptile. It was not until the Grunt arrived at the Pokémon that the Pokémon realized, along with the Grunt and the Team Rocket Trio, that Giovanni had been incapacitated, possibly even having taken a fatal injury. The Team Rocket Trio looked over at the Grunt and told him, "You keep those Pokémon off us. We'll heal the boss!"

"Got it," the Grunt replied as he commanded his remaining Pokémon, a Drowzee, Houndour, the first stage pre-evolution of Houndoom; Fearow, and Flygon to engage the three Pokémon facing them down. The Grunt and his Pokémon did not last long, though, as Serperior opened the battle by using Attract. Pink hearts erupted from the eyes of the Pokémon and raced towards the Pokémon. They struck all of the Pokémon and suddenly, pink hearts appeared in the eyes of all of the Pokémon, save for Flygon. Blastoise made certain to take care of Flygon with a single Ice Beam. The beam of ice scored a direct hit on the Ground/Dragon-type and a sheet of ice formed over the torso of the Pokémon. The Pokémon quickly came crashing to the ground, the sheet of ice shattering upon impact. There, Flygon lay, unconscious. As for the other Pokémon, Venusaur used Sludge Bomb to take down the infatuated Drowzee, allowing Blastoise to finish off Houndour and Fearow with Surf, dowsing them with a torrent of water, knocking them out of the fight as well.

Back over at Giovanni, Jessie and James called out their Pokémon, with Gourgeist and Malamar covering them while James took out a Lum Berry to give to Giovanni. "Take this, sir," James told Giovanni.

The Team Rocket Boss looked at the small vial and asked, "What is it?"

"It's a Lum Berry," the Team Rocket Agent answered.

"A Pokémon healing item?" Giovanni scoffed skeptically.

"It should at least heal you of your paralysis, sir," James responded.

The discussion between James and Giovanni was wearing of Jessie's nerves as she watched her Pokémon do their best to engage Ash, Mia, and their friends and family's Pokémon in a losing battle. "Hey James, hurry up, the twerps are winning the fight!"

James nodded and then put the berry into Giovanni's mouth, regardless of Giovanni's skepticism. The Rocket Boss then chewed the berry and swallowed. The moment he swallowed the berry he was instantly healed of his paralysis and all fatigue left him. He felt like a new man. He quickly stood up and grinned. "You were right James," he told his subordinate. "I feel better than I have in a long time. You, Jessie, and Meowth will get a promotion once this battle is over." He grinned once again as he focused on the battle before him, ignoring the Rocket Agent, whose eyes were sparkling with the pride he felt in helping his boss and being useful to the organization.

Back in the fighting, Ash and Mia were dealing with Team Rocket reinforcements that were doing their best to take them down and stop them from dealing with Giovanni. Despite the strength and skill of Ash and Mia's Pokémon, the battles were beginning to take their toll. One Rocket grunt sent out two Rhyperiors, an Alakazam, and a Honchkrow, their primary targets being Charizard and Tyranitar. Ash, seeing the two Ground/Rock-type Pokémon attempting to double team Charizard decided to even up the battle by bringing in his trump card. Holding up his left hand, he placed two fingers on his Key Stone and cried, "Charizard, it's time. Mega Evolve!"

The moment he made that cry, Charizard immediately began to glow and was immediately encased in a gray stone. After a second, Charizard emerged from the stone as Mega Charizard Y. The sun instantly became brighter and Charizard immediately fired off a Solar Beam at one of the Rhyperiors that was powering a Stone Edge attack. The yellow beam of energy blew through the stones that were quickly forced to become a makeshift shield for the Pokémon with a quadruple weakness to Solar Beam and scored a direct hit on the Pokémon, taking it down with a single hit.

Not one to be outdone by her twin brother, Mia immediately touched her Key Stone and called out, "Venusaur, it's time!"

Venusaur knew exactly what would follow. Venusaur immediately Mega Evolved into Mega Venusaur and used the sun's light to instantly power up a Solar Beam. He unleashed the Solar Beam on the second Rhyperior that was firing off a Stone Edge barrage on Charizard, who spun around while shooting flames around his body, performing a technique that Ash referred to as Counter Shield. The Solar Beam smashed into the Rhyperior and took it down with a single hit. That left only the Alakazam and Honchkrow. Tyranitar and Pikachu quickly formed up on Charizard and Venusaur and took down the two enemy Pokémon with Crunch and a Thunderbolt respectively. The Crunch was more than sufficient to take down Alakazam, who fired off a Shadow Ball on Tyranitar, trying to inflict some damage to the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon before falling. However, Alakazam's Shadow Ball was batted away with a sweep of Tyranitar's arm, and deflected into a Hypno far away, taking it down with that one hit, as Tyranitar closed the distance between him and the Alakazam. He then grabbed the Psychic-type Pokémon and bit it on the head using Crunch. That one Crunch was more than sufficient to take down the Psychic-type Pokémon. As for Honchkrow, Pikachu's Thunderbolt was more than sufficient to take down the crow-like Pokémon.

As Ash and Mia were dealing with the Team Rocket Pokémon that had attempted to wear down their Pokémon, more Pokémon League troopers appeared and launched more attacks on them. Several troopers pulled out Ray Guns and deployed their Pokémon, one a Dragonite, another a blue phoenix-like Pokémon with white cloud-like wings called an Altaria, a Dragon/Flying-type Pokémon that was capable of Mega Evolution, though the Pokémon League troopers did not have either a Key Stone, or the necessary Mega Stone to allow it to evolve. This proved to be unfortunate for Altaria as Garchomp was quick to take it down with a single Dragon Claw to its face. Dragonite did not last much longer as Charizard, Tyranitar, and Pikachu triple teamed it unleashing a Dragon Pulse, Stone Edge, and Thunderbolt respectively. Dragonite would have had enough trouble dealing with Mega Charizard Y's enhanced Dragon Pulse as it was. With both Tyranitar's Stone Edge, another super effective attack, and Pikachu's Thunderbolt to deal with, the writing was on the wall. The Dragonite fell before it could launch a single attack on Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Next, Pikachu finished off the Pokémon League troopers with a Thunderbolt, rendering them either unconscious or worse.

Once the Pokémon League troopers had been dealt with, Mia went to look for more targets when a sensation of dread came over her as she turned and found Giovanni, fully healed and holding Ash in his arms, a Ray Gun pointed to his head. The boy struggled against Giovanni's grip but was unable to get free. Giovanni grinned at the girl and delivered his ultimatum, "Surrender now, Leaf, or Ash dies."

Back at the site of the battle, Mia and the others stopped fighting and looked over at Giovanni, who was gripping Ash tightly, holding the boy in his left arm, while he held his Ray Gun out to Mia. Ash struggled against Giovanni's grip, trying to break free. As he struggled against the superior strength of Giovanni, though, Giovanni cried, "Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit, help me take out this boy!"

Azelf, a newly revived Uxie, and Mesprit quickly appeared in front of Giovanni, blank yet dark expressions in their faces showing Ash all he needed to know. "Use your special abilities on him, and then on the others. End this fight!"

Mia felt a mixture of rage and horror at the sight. The memory of how Ash had prevented her from finishing off Giovanni was fresh in her mind, but she was not about to let her own brother have his will, memory, and emotion get drained from him. Looking around, though, she saw that all of her Pokémon, and those of Ash's and his friends and family were currently engaged with Team Rocket and the Pokémon League's Pokémon, for they were renewing their attacks on the allied Pokémon. She then knew that she had no choice. She was the only one that could save her brother, even though it would cost her everything.

Knowing that she would have to pick her targets very carefully, she went for Uxie first, knowing that the Knowledge Pokémon would be the greatest threat since it could quickly turn and look her straight in the eyes while she did her best to take down or at least distracting the other Pokémon. She fired her Ray Gun at Uxie, knowing that the Pokémon would not fall to a single hit, but it would hopefully be injured enough so that it would not be able to wipe Ash of his memory. The green pulse of energy erupted from the barrel of the Ray Gun and struck the Knowledge Pokémon in the back, inflicting a burn on its back and knocking it out of the air. Looking over at Ash, she could see that she had managed to keep Uxie from looking into Ash's eyes. Next, Mia fired on Mesprit, the green pulse of energy scoring a direct hit on the back of the Emotion Pokémon, knocking it out of the air and preventing it from touching Ash and draining him of his emotion. That left only Azelf. There was no way for her to avoid suffering the effects of Azelf's power, so steeling her resolve, she leveled the Ray Gun at Azelf and pulled the trigger. A green pulse of energy erupted from the Ray Gun once more and scored a direct hit on the Willpower Pokémon squarely in the back. Azelf gave a cry of surprise and pain and fell to the ground. The moment it did so, though, Mia's eyes immediately went blank as Azelf's power was taking effect and draining Mia of her willpower.

"Now, finish the boy," Giovanni commanded.

The Lake Guardians nodded and focused back on Ash, ignoring Mia, whom they thought was neutralized. However, Mia would not be defeated so easily. As the Pokémon went to power their attacks once more, Mia was doing her best to fight the effects of Azelf's special ability. The fact that she shot the Lake Guardian, rather than having hurt him by punching him or engaging him directly must have caused the effect to not be as great as it could have been, for Mia was able to charge the Lake Guardians and catch them completely off guard. She barreled into Azelf, firing numerous shots from her Ray Gun at it. Her charge managed to deflect Azelf's shot wide of Ash and sent him flying into Uxie, who flew into Mesprit. Azelf also took the attack of Uxie as well, causing him minor damage but still hurting him. Mia's charge into Azelf, however, while saving Ash, doomed her, for that was when she was completely drained of her willpower. Her eyes immediately went blank and she merely stood still, not even bothering to look around her.

"Mia!" Ash cried in horror as he saw her stop moving, being completely under the effects of Azelf's special ability.

He rushed over to her in order to try to protect her and get her out of danger, grabbing her discarded Ray Gun in the process, but before he arrived, Azelf approached her and powered an Extrasensory attack when Ash rushed over to Azelf and fired on the Pokémon with Mia's Ray Gun. This proved to be a mistake, for the moment he scored a hit on Azelf, he was completely drained of his willpower. The moment he was drained of his willpower, Uxie came over to him and opened his eyes, immediately wiping Ash's memory as soon as he made eye contact with the Pokémon. Finally, Mesprit came over and touched Ash in order to drain him of all emotion. Giovanni could only grin as Ash was completely disabled and Mia no longer had the will to act. The battle was all but over.

Meanwhile, the rest of Ash and Mia's Pokémon were still fighting the Team Rocket and Pokémon League reinforcements that had come to the aid of Giovanni and Team Rocket. Tyranitar performed an Earthquake in order to deal with Entei and Raikou, inflicting significant damage to the Legendary Beasts, though Suicune suffered only moderate damage. Jolteon and Pikachu dealt with Suicune by unleashing two Thunderbolts on the Pokémon. As for the Entei and Raikou, a second Earthquake was sufficient to deal with them while Starmie and Chandelure lifted the allied humans Pokémon above the shaking helipad. Cracks were already beginning to form in on the pad and it was obvious that there was damage being inflicted on the pad.

Delia and Dawn were side by side against a group of Team Rocket Grunts and Agents, commanding Swellow and Piplup to take down two Koffings, which they did using Aerial Ace and Bubble Beam. Swellow collided with her Koffing and took it down with a single hit, while Piplup's Bubble Beam was strong enough to stagger his Koffing, but it took a Flamethrower from Typhlosion to finally take it down.

While they were still battling, Delia caught sight of the fallen Ash and the frozen Mia and a look of horror crossed her face. "Ash, Mia," she called out.

When they gave no response, she went to rush over to them, but was stopped when a blue field of psychic energy surrounded her and lifted her into the air. It then sent her sailing across the helipad, only the Psychic of Chandelure managing to arrest her momentum and allow her to land safely. For a moment, though, it seemed as if Dawn had been forgotten and when she saw the two heroes disabled and fallen, she went to rush over to cover them when she, too, was frozen by a Psychic from Mesprit. She struggled to reach Ash, but try as she might, she was no match for Mesprit's Psychic. Looking at the Lake Guardian, she asked, "Why?"

Mesprit gave no answer as it merely held Dawn fast while several Rocket Grunts came over to make certain that she was neutralized. They quickly grabbed her arms and forced her to the ground, grinning. The girl tried in vain to get out of their grips, but they were too strong. Her Pokémon also came to try to assist her, but they were quickly met by the Legendary Beasts as well as the Eon Duo Latios and Latias. Her Pokémon froze in their tracks, quickly realizing that they were completely outmatched. Things were quickly going from bad to worse. And things would not get better anytime soon.

Back near Giovanni, though, May and Tracey had yet to surrender and were continuing to take the battle to the forces of Team Rocket and the Pokémon League. May's Blaziken fried a Pokémon League's Torterra with a single Flamethrower while Tracey's Scizor dealt with a Gardevoir far more easily than it would have seemed at first. However, things would soon take a turn for the worse, for near the edge of the platform, the sounds of an engine and the whirring of helicopter rotors could be heard. May and Tracey grimaced as they realized that more Team Rocket reinforcements were arriving on the scene. Sure enough, a helicopter rose to meet the group. This helicopter had twin rotors, much like the disabled helicopter that Giovanni had tried to evacuate in, but this one was also heavily armed, for armed it had what looked like a chin mounted machine gun with missiles and rocket pods on small wings on its side. It immediately lit into May, Tracey, and their Pokémon as they noticed Ash and Mia and tried to approach them, causing them to scatter as energy bolts were fired their way, the bolts failing to score any hits but doing their job in causing the only remaining source of resistance to scatter. It soon turned to expose its side and it opened one of its side hatches. Inside the hatch were two Pokémon League troopers each armed with lightning guns along with a Blaziken. The Pokémon League trooper called out in a loud voice, "Blaziken, it's time to enter the fray. Mega Evolve!"

He touched a small stone on his wrist as Blaziken jumped from the helicopter and dove into the fray. It transformed from its normal form, losing its yellow markings and gaining black markings on its legs and chest, while having its crest transform into a horn that curved backwards. It also created long streams of flame from its wrists. Mega Blaziken immediately tore into May and Tracey's teams, sweeping a powered up Flamethrower into Glaceon, Scizor, and Venusaur, taking down all three Pokémon. May's own Blaziken did its best to counter the League trooper's Mega Blaziken, but it was no match for the battle trained Pokémon and its Blaze Kick inflicted minimal damage while Mega Blaziken punched the ground, using Earthquake. May's Blaziken barely managed to jump over the shockwaves while Blastoise and Delcatty had no such luck. Fortunately, though, the Earthquake was not powerful enough to take down Blastoise or Delcatty but they were left reeling.

The vicious onslaught would soon come to an end, though, for Ash's Charizard quickly arrived on the scene and went to engage the Mega Blaziken. Charizard performed his own powered up Air Slash on the part Fighting-type Pokémon and inflicted obscene damage onto the Mega Blaziken. Mega Charizard Y flapped his wings and unleashed light blue glowing saw-like blades of energy, each of which connected with Mega Blaziken. The Air Slash attack was sufficient to take down Mega Blaziken and knock it unconscious, but the damage had been done. May's team was devastated and half of Tracey's Pokémon had fainted due to Mega Blaziken. Once the Mega Blaziken was defeated, May and Tracey scanned the area for their friends and found Delia and the Pokémon under her care engaged against the Legendary Beasts and Eon Duo. They quickly returned their fainted Pokémon and went over to assist Delia and Dawn when they heard Giovanni call, "Surrender and recall your Pokémon now!"

The remaining allied fighters turned to see Giovanni grinning as he held Ash up with one hand and pointed a Ray Gun to his head with the other. Looking behind him, they saw Mia being restrained by two Team Rocket Agents, a blank look on her face. "Surrender now, or I will kill Ash and Leaf," he reiterated.

"No don't!" Delia cried, reaching for Giovanni, prompting a Pokémon League trooper and a Team Rocket officer to grab hold of her and physically restrain her.

"You know my ultimatum," Giovanni declared once more. "Surrender now or watch your children die."

May and Tracey scanned their surroundings and grimaced. There was nothing they could do without sacrificing Ash. With both Ash and Mia's Pokémon still able to battle, they knew that they could make a fight of it, but they also knew that if they continued the fight, that Ash and Mia were almost certainly going to die, for the blank expression on Ash's face told May and Tracey all that they needed to know. He had been hit by the abilities of at least a couple of the Lake Guardians and while they did not know all that much about the Lake Guardians, Tracey was familiar with some of the legends of the Sinnoh Region. Seeing that they had little choice, May and Tracey sighed and stepped forward, saying, "We surrender."

Delia's heart sank upon hearing them surrender but she knew that it was the only way that Ash and Mia would survive. "Now, recall your Pokémon," Giovanni directed.

May and Tracey gave more sighs as they complied with Giovanni's orders. "Everyone return," May called out, taking out two Poké Balls to recall Blaziken and Blastoise. Taking out two more Poké Balls, she then recalled Beautifly and Delcatty.

As for Tracey, he called back his Pokémon, calling, "Azumarill, Scizor, and Venonat return."

Just as with May, he took out two Poké Balls and recalled his remaining Pokémon. Once May and Tracey had recalled their Pokémon, Giovanni turned to Dawn and Delia, directing them, "Now you do the same."

Ash's mother and Dawn seethed and gritted their teeth as they took out their Poké Balls and one by one, recalled their Pokémon. They scowled as Team Rocket Grunts and Agents came over to relieve them of their Poké Balls. "Don't worry babes, your Pokémon will be of great use to Team Rocket," one of the Grunts stated lecherously."

Giovanni then took out Ash's Poké Balls and tossed them over to Delia, commanding, "Now, recall your son's Pokémon."

Delia faced Ash and Mia, and then turned to their Pokémon, all of them save for Pikachu, Charizard, and Tyranitar giving solemn nods, indicating that they would be recalled without incident. As such, she recalled all of Ash's Pokémon one by one. Charizard attempted to resist by spreading his wings so he could fly, but he was instantly restrained the Lake Guardians and the Eon Duo each used Psychic on him to keep him in place. They also used it to inflict significant damage to Charizard on the off chance that he decided to fight back.

"Stop, Charizard, this won't help Ash," Delia called out to him desperately, as she could see the blue energy field of the enemy Pokémon's Psychic attacks beginning to compress him. She then held out Charizard's Poké Ball and recalled him into it. Once he was drawn in she slumped forward, defeated, knowing that Charizard was Ash's strongest Pokémon.

Giovanni then grinned as he declared, "Well, since Leaf deactivated the seals on her Poké Balls and possibly destroyed them, I'll have to use more direct methods of recalling her Pokémon. He nodded over to two Pokémon League soldiers and they instantly produced a series of Ultra Balls, black and white Poké Balls with a yellow U on top. "Just remember what happens to your friend if you resist," Giovanni warned the Pokémon, knowing of Tyranitar and Venusaur's loyalty to Mia as well as Tyranitar's spirit and rebellious streak.

The League troopers then tossed the Ultra Balls over to Mia's Pokémon. When they made contact with the Pokémon, they converted them into red blobs of energy and were drawn into the Ultra Balls. Eventually, all of the Pokémon were recalled into their Poké Balls; that is all save for Pikachu. Giovanni immediately went over to Ash and reached into his pocket in order to get out Pikachu's Poké Ball, but he could not find it. He went over to Mia and searched her but could not find the Poké Ball on her, either.

"Where is Pikachu's Poké Ball?" the Rocket boss demanded of no one in particular.

"How should any of us know?" Delia retorted. "Ash never kept Pikachu inside a Poké Ball."

Giovanni gritted his teeth. If Pikachu's Poké Ball was not here, then there was no way to recall him since he was linked to the Poké Ball that had captured him. This made things more difficult for Giovanni since the last thing he wanted was to risk a rebellion by having to outright kill the boy and his Pikachu. Still, he felt that he had no choice. Still, he would do it when he was certain that there was no way for the others to resist and start the fighting once again. Soon, one of the Pokémon League troopers took out a cell phone and spoke into it, saying, "Chopper One, we need you at Team Rocket Headquarters at once." There was a pause before the League Trooper continued, "The battle's over. We've won."

Once he had delivered the good news, he hung up the phone and waited for the helicopter to arrive and pick up the surviving Rockets and Pokémon League troopers, of which there were not many. Still, they outnumbered the allied fighters and Delia and the others could clearly see that if they continued the fight, that their chances for victory were slim at best, and that there was no way that Ash or Mia would survive the ensuing battle. As such, they did not take any aggressive actions as the Rockets and Pokémon League troopers waited for the helicopter's arrival.

Eventually, the helicopter did, indeed, arrive. Sure enough, it was the same helicopter that had brought Delia and the others up to the helipad of Team Rocket Headquarters. The helicopter's hatch opened and out came Butch, Cassidy, and several more Pokémon League troopers and Rocket Agents. They immediately went over to Mia and grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her towards the helicopter's hatch. Two more Rockets joined them, some of them shoving her forward and hitting her as they forced her towards the helicopter. The other Rockets quickly went to subdue Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey and force them towards the helicopter. Some of the more perverted Rockets cast obscene leers at Delia, May, and Dawn.

As she was being directed onto the helicopter, though, she looked back at Ash and cried, "Wait, what about Ash?"

"What about him?" Giovanni retorted with a twisted grin. "He's been hit by the special abilities of all three Lake Guardians. He's as good as dead."

"But you can't just leave him here!" Delia cried.

"I most certainly can," Giovanni retorted. "And I will."

"No!" Delia cried as she attempted to run over to Ash to bring him along so that he had at least a chance of survival. Two more Rockets came over to shove her onto the helicopter. She struggled against their strength and during the struggle, unbeknownst to the Rockets and the Pokémon League troopers, the Poké Ball that contained Charizard fell from her pocket and onto the helipad.

As soon as she was through the hatch, the Pokémon League troopers went to board the helicopter. That was when the one Pokémon that they had not noticed, Pikachu, made his move. Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt on a Pokémon League trooper that was holding a single Ultra Ball. Pikachu remembered that Ultra Ball as being the one that had captured Tyranitar.

"Watch out, the rat's attacking!" a Rocket cried as he drew a Ray Gun. This earned him another Thunderbolt to the chest, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell to the helicopter's floor, electricity arcing across his body. Other Pokémon League forces and Team Rocket Agents dove behind the helicopter's armored hull to avoid Pikachu's next Thunderbolt.

Back onboard the helicopter, Giovanni was quick to notice Pikachu's attack and he quickly closed the boarding hatch before the rest of the Rockets and Pokémon League troopers could get onboard. Once he did so, he cried to the pilot, "Pilot, get us out of here!"

"But sir, there are still Rockets out on the helipad! They'll be helpless against that Pikachu!"

"I don't care!" Giovanni roared in retort. "If we don't get out of here quickly, that Pikachu could take us down! The last thing either of us needs is to get bogged down in another battle down there."

The pilot disagreed, but when the lead Pokémon League Trooper said, "Do it. Get us out of here," he complied.

"Understood, sir," the pilot answered. He then lifted the helicopter off from the helipad.

As soon as the helicopter had lifted off from the helipad, Giovanni reached into his pocket and took out a remote control with a single red button. One of the Pokémon League Troopers caught sight of the remote and asked him, "What are you doing?"

"Finishing this," he answered. "The Champion is still a potential threat to us. His threat will be neutralized after today."

The League trooper's eyes went wide with shock. "But your own forces are still out there!" he blurted.

"Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made," was Giovanni's only response.

May and Dawn looked over at Giovanni and, noticing the remote, went to try to take it from him, crying, "No!"

They were immediately restrained by the Pokémon League Troopers and Rocket Agents that were guarding them. Delia heard their cry and looked over only to see Giovanni push the button. Looking out the window, she immediately saw a series of explosions come from inside the building. Windows were blown out and debris fell from sides of the building as support structures collapsed. The helipad slid off of the building and fell eleven stories to the ground where it hit and collapsed, shattering into many shards of metal. Delia and the others could scarcely believe their eyes as they saw Team Rocket Headquarters collapse, seemingly taking Ash and Pikachu with it.

Just before the building's collapse, though, back on the helipad, Pikachu was doing his best to deal with the remnants of Team Rocket and the Pokémon League forces that were engaging him. Knowing that he could not stand against the Pokémon arrayed against him, most of which were the starts from the Johto Region and the Sinnoh Region of Japan, he knew that he would need help. The first thing he did was use Quick Attack to rush over to Charizard's Poké Ball and open it. The ball opened and Charizard immediately emerged from it, still in his Mega Charizard Y form. Pikachu breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. As for Charizard, the dragon immediately began the new phase of the battle by sweeping a Flamethrower over the Pokémon League troopers and Team Rocket Agents and their Pokémon. Two League troopers and three Rocket Agents were incinerated and reduced to ashes while the others dove to the ground, hiding behind their Pokémon so that their Pokémon would take the hits for them. This resulted in a Torterra and a Meganium being rendered unconscious. Pikachu grinned. Perhaps things could still be salvaged after all.

While Charizard was engaging the Rockets and Pokémon League, Pikachu went over to Tyranitar's Ultra Ball and opened it, releasing the massive Armor Pokémon. Seeing Charizard engage the Rockets and League troopers, he quickly added his own power to the fight by powering up and unleashing a Stone Edge on the enemy forces, either crushing the remaining Rockets and League troopers or forcing them to scatter. One stone managed to knock a Blaziken and a League trooper off the helipad and down onto the ground eleven stories below. Tyranitar gave a grim grin as the enemies fell off the edge of the helipad. As soon as the two evolved Pokémon were engaging the remaining enemy soldiers, Pikachu went back to Ash in order to cover him and make certain that none of the fighting reached him.

Just as he had made it back to Ash, though, he felt the building shake and he struggled to maintain his footing. The other surviving Rockets and League troopers also felt the building shake and they glanced around at each other, looks of dread crossing their faces. Seeing their ashen expressions, Pikachu and the others knew that that meant only one thing: the building was about to fall.

Wasting no time, Charizard rushed over to Ash and put him on his back. As soon as he arrived over at Ash, he could already feel the building begin to list and the structures begin to collapse. The helipad was also sliding, which caused the remaining Rockets, League troopers, and their Pokémon to fall off the building, and to their deaths. Charizard gathered Ash and placed him on his back in such a way that he could remain there while he flew. Pikachu also mounted Charizard's back, as well as positioning himself so that he could keep Ash from falling. Charizard, meanwhile, rushed over to Tyranitar, who was doing his best to grip the floor of the falling helipad.

Charizard arrived at the large Armor Pokémon and wrapped his arms around the waist of Tyranitar. Then, flapping his wings as hard as he could in order to get the necessary lift to rise from the falling structure, he managed to fly a few feet into the air and remain there as the helipad fell to the ground and the building collapsed, throwing up all sorts of dust and debris. Charizard took in a deep breath and held it as he picked a direction and flew towards it, doing his best to move as quickly as possible but being weighed down by the very heavy Tyranitar. Eventually, Charizard managed to find a clear area where he could land and rest. He flew over to the area as quickly as he could, being slowed down significantly by Tyranitar's weight.

Eventually, he made it to the area and landed, half putting Tyranitar down, half dropping him as his strength eventually gave out. Upon having Tyranitar land, Charizard reverted back to his normal form and landed next to the large Armor Pokémon. When he did so, he landed softly and took Ash off of his back and placed him down on the ground. Checking on Ash, he saw that the boy seemed to still be breathing, but he could see no other signs of activity from him. It was as if he had gone completely blank. Pikachu also dismounted Charizard and sided up next to Ash, rubbing his cheek to try to get a response but there was none. Giving a sigh, the trio of Pokémon looked down at the blank Ash, wondering what to do now and how they could help him, as well as possibly try to find out where their friends were being taken and how they could get them back.

Back on the roof of a building off in the distance, Aizen looked on, using his magical sight to watch the battle's outcome. He did not know whether to be relieved or annoyed at the fact that Ash and Leaf had been beaten. They were of no real importance to him. All he wanted was to fight Mewtwo on his terms. And the Pokémon had not come. He did not know why Mewtwo had not come to aid his friend, but he had not and now, there was no further reason to remain on the building. Instead, he would have to find some alternate means by which to lure out Mewtwo so he could fight him. For the time being, though, he would aid Giovanni in his goals. After all, allowing Giovanni to take control of all Trainer owned Pokémon and allow him to try to take over the Earth and possibly the Federation would make life easier for his own people. With that thought, he vanished from the top of the building.

Had he remained for a few moments longer, he would have detected the arrival of Mewtwo above the scene. Mewtwo had managed to duck away from his parents during one of the beach concerts where some audience members had been invited onto the stage to sing and dance. Mew, in her human disguise, had been one of the partiers selected to go up on stage and perform. While she had been going on stage along with her mate, Mewtwo had teleported away from the scene and reappeared above Team Rocket's base, the location where he had sensed the congregation of Legendary Pokémon. Examining the scene, and telepathically scanning the remains of the base, he found that there had, indeed, been a battle here, for he could sense the residual energy from the battle. However, he could not sense anyone here at the moment, only a few Pokémon that he did not immediately recognize. As such, he then teleported back to his parents, but was careful to keep his mind open to the Kanto Region of Japan, for he strongly suspected that whatever had happened here was big, and that it was not over yet.

Standing on a hill not too far away from Team Rocket Headquarters, John watched the scene as the base was scuttled. He saw the helicopter depart the scene as he saw a Pokémon carrying another Pokémon in its arms while a human figure and a smaller Pokémon rode on top of the dragon-like Pokémon. He took out his binoculars and focused in on the Pokémon that he now identified as Charizard. He was also able to make out his son riding on Charizard's back, along with the Pikachu. However, when he saw Ash, he noticed that Ash's expression was blank and that the Pikachu seemed to also be doing its best to make sure that Ash did not fall off of Charizard's back while the dragon-like Pokémon searched for a safe landing zone. Seeing Charizard slowly fly towards a clear area not too far away from the remains of the base that was also inconspicuous, he went over to a hoverbike that was floating a few feet away from him. Mounting it, he activated it, causing a hum to echo from the machine and then maneuvered the bike towards a trail that would take him to Charizard's destination. He had to get to his son and help him before anyone else managed to reach him, and either capture or kill him.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Pikachu knelt down next to Ash, nudging his chin, hoping desperately that Ash would wake up and that he would be okay. The boy's cheek was warm, indicating that he was still alive, as did his steady heartbeat. It made no sense to Pikachu. He had heard that the Lake Guardians had special abilities, and that Ash had been hit by all three of their special abilities, but he did not expect Ash to still be alive after such an ordeal. However, Ash was still alive, and that meant that there was still hope. But that hope was fading fast, for he knew that if Ash did not eat or drink, then he would eventually die.

Charizard and Tyranitar scanned their surroundings. They looked off into the distance as the pile of rubble that had once been Team Rocket's Headquarters settled. The dust cloud was also settling. There appeared to be no Rockets still alive close to them, but they wanted to be somewhere other than the ruins of the base. They then went back to Pikachu, and told him, [We have to get out of here. While there may not be any Rockets around just yet, you can bet that they'll be sending in cleanup crews soon enough. We want to be long gone from here by the time they arrive.]

[But what about Ash?] Pikachu cried. [I don't know if he's in any condition to move!]

Charizard came down next to Ash and checked on the boy once more. He put his ear close to Ash's heart, and placed his hand near Ash's mouth. He heard a heartbeat and felt air coming from his mouth. Ash was definitely alive, and likely medically fine. It was just that he was not responding to anything, and if he remained in this condition, then there would be problems. He then answered Pikachu, [Physically, he's fine. It's just that his mind is blank, as is his will. It should be okay to move him. Aside from a bruise or two, maybe, he's completely normal, save for his lack of response.]

[Is there any way we can help him?] was the mouse's next question.

[I don't know,] Tyranitar answered for the dragon. [He was hit by the special abilities of all three Lake Guardians. Mia told me that they could wipe a person's mind, sap his will, and drain his emotions. As far as I know, no cure to those conditions exists in on Earth. At least, nothing that we can easily get our hands on.]

[Could a Pokémon like Celebi, Chansey, or Audino cure him?]

[I don't know,] Tyranitar shrugged. [Mia never told me if there was a cure. I'm not even sure if anyone's ever gone through what Ash just has.]

[If Team Rocket was working with all three of them, then maybe _they_ had something that could help, on the off chance that the Lake Guardians may have betrayed them,] Charizard suggested. [There may be some stuff left in the ruins of the base. If nothing else, anything we find might be able to buy some time for Ash.]

[Good idea,] Tyranitar said. [You and I will go check it out. Also, our Poké Balls are back there, too. We'll want to go get them so that any salvage operation does not get them into the hands of Team Rocket.] An absent look crossed Tyranitar's face for a few moments before he turned back to Pikachu. He then directed, [You stay here with Ash while we go and see if we can find anything that may be able to help him, and us, out of our current predicament.]

[No way I'm leaving his side,] Pikachu responded strongly.

Charizard and Tyranitar then left Ash and Pikachu and made their way back to the ruins of the base. Once they arrived, they saw nothing but a pile of rubble. Stone and other debris were still settling down, so both Pokémon were very careful to not get too close to the building. They scanned the perimeter and found the bodies of several Rocket Grunts, as well as those of some Agents and even an Officer. The two Pokémon searched for any potions, healing items, or anything else that might help Ash. Unfortunately, they found nothing. They went to another part of the building and they soon saw the bodies of four Rocket Grunts, along with a couple Pokémon League troopers. Not too far away, they saw the crumpled forms of a Poké Ball and an Ultra Ball. The two Pokémon looked down at the ruined balls and almost smirked. [Well, I guess that explains the feeling we got after we fled the falling building,] Tyranitar mused, with Charizard nodding.

Seeing that they had found nothing important, they were about to go back to Pikachu and Ash when they heard a small rock fall from the top of a pile of rubble. Both Pokémon turned to the source of the sound and they saw a pile of rocks shift and then fall outwards. Emerging from the pile of rubble were Krookodile and Greninja. Charizard and Tyranitar recognized the two Pokémon due to Krookodile's distinctive pair of sunglasses, but were still shocked by their appearance. [Krookodile, Greninja, what are you two doing here? We thought you were captured by Team Rocket and/or the Pokémon League!]

[We may well have been if Ash's mother had not told us to stay out of sight rather than try to take them down after she and the others had been captured,] Greninja answered, the harshness and feelings of failure evident in his voice.

Charizard and Tyranitar then examined Krookodile and Greninja and found numerous bruises on them, signs that they had been in some intense fighting. [How's Ash?] Krookodile asked.

[We don't know,] Charizard answered. [He was hit by the abilities of the Lake Guardians and we don't know what to do to help him.]

[Well, we should get back to him and try to find some help.] Greninja suggested. The others agreed and they quickly left and headed back to Ash.

Once they returned, they saw that Ash's condition had not changed while they were away. When Pikachu jumped for joy at the sight of the two Dark-type Pokémon. [Greninja, Krookodile, you made it!] he exclaimed.

The two nodded apprehensively. They looked down at Ash and examined him. They could see his chest rising and falling with each breath. Krookodile stomped on the ground, causing it to shake in the hopes of waking him up. [We already tried to wake him,] Pikachu told him. He then shook his head, letting them know that it was not successful.

[We can't just stay here, guys,] Tyranitar called out to the others. [This place is a little too open and a little too close to Team Rocket Headquarters. We should try to find a hospital, or someplace that can tell us where one is. The humans'll take better care of him than we can.]

The group was about to rise to get moving when Pikachu heard something in the distance. It was a slight hum, but it was getting louder. [Someone's coming guys, and fast,] he alerted.

Charizard reached down to gather Ash into his arms and prepared to take off when he saw something coming in the distance. The object rapidly grew in size and they group were quickly able to identify it as a hoverbike, a rare piece of technology for Kanto. The Pokémon quickly went on guard as the bike approached, Charizard already readying a Flamethrower or stronger. Tyranitar, however, was not as ready to fight, for he thought that he recognized the rider.

The bike quickly arrived at the group and turned sideways before coming to a quick halt. The rider was wearing a red jacket over a black shirt and jeans. The man had black hair and blue eyes and looked to be in his early thirties. He looked over at the Pokémon and quickly spotted Ash lying on the ground. His eyes went wide at the sight of the boy and he cried, "Ash!"

He dismounted his bike and rushed over to Ash, only for the other Pokémon to form up in front of him, barring his way. Tyranitar quickly powered a Stone Edge, as did Krookodile, with Greninja assuming a fighter's stance. Pikachu and Charizard, though, were not so quick to engage and they stepped out to meet the newcomer. "Ash is my son," John exclaimed worriedly. "I have to help him!"

The others did not believe him, at first, but when Pikachu and Charizard approached, they gave a sniff and immediately noticed that his smell was remarkably similar to Ash's, too much so to be a coincidence. "Pi-ka Pikapi Pika," Pikachu said. "Pi-ka pi pikachu pi-ka." John pulled out a Pokédex-like device and held it up in front of him. Soon, a high-pitched childlike voice emerged from the computer, saying, "So you're Ash's father. Your smell _is_ similar to him."

"Yes," John confirmed. "Ash is my son. My name is John Ketchum. I mean you no harm."

[What are you doing here?] came a question from Tyranitar, which the computer spoke in a deep voice.

"I saw Team Rocket Headquarters collapsing and I saw you fleeing the debris. When I looked more closely through my binoculars, I saw Ash and Pikachu on Charizard's back so I went to investigate in case something bad happened."

[Well something bad _has_ happened,] Charizard told him.

"What is it?" John asked, moving towards Ash.

[We don't know,] Pikachu answered. [Ash was hit by the special abilities of the Lake Guardians Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit during the battle at Team Rocket's Headquarters.]

John's face went almost ashen. "He was hit by all three?"

The Pokémon all nodded.

John looked down at the ground almost blankly. He took Ash's pulse and placed his hand close to his son's mouth, feeling his son's breath on his hands. "Well, at least he seems to be in good physical health."

[Is there anything that can be done for him?] Pikachu asked anxiously.

"Hopefully," John answered. "I have a hut not too far away from here. In it are medical supplies and other items that might be able to help him. I am by no means certain that they'll help, or even be enough to heal him, but they have a better chance of working than any normal human medicines but we have to get him there quickly. It won't be long before Team Rocket sends a cleanup crew to try to salvage anything they can from the wreckage. It would be best if we're long gone by the time they come."

The Pokémon heartily agreed and they joined John. As John went to mount his bike, Charizard gently picked up Ash and held him in his arms. Pikachu then climbed up on Charizard's back and held on as Charizard spread his wings. Greninja mounted the hoverbike, sitting behind John and wrapping his arms around John's waist. Tyranitar and Krookodile, being too heavy for Charizard or the bike to hold, stood off at a distance as John started to head off in the direction of his hut. As he sped off, he was followed by Charizard, who easily managed to keep up with him. Bringing up the rear were Tyranitar and Krookodile, who were not nearly as fast as Charizard and the bike. As such, John slowed down the pace so that the two Pokémon would be able to keep up with him and Charizard. In addition, it would allow him and Pikachu to keep watch to make sure that they were not being followed.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon League helicopter carrying Giovanni was making its way towards Pokémon League Headquarters. Inside, Butch and Cassidy kept watch over a bound Mia, who had been sapped of her willpower so there was little chance of her resisting, as well as the other bound captives. A couple Grunts looked lecherously at Mia, May, and Dawn, but the Pokémon League troopers scowled at them, indicating that they would not be allowed to touch them in any way.

Soon, the League Headquarters came into view. It was shaped just like a massive Poké Ball, complete with a red top half, white bottom half, and painting that simulated the button in the center of the ball. Despite being the headquarters of the Pokémon League and housing offices for all businesses associated with the league, it was only ten or so stories tall, but the building was huge. It had originally been designed to be the location of the original Pokémon League Championship Battle, where aspiring champions battled the Pokémon League Champion and attempted to claim the crown, but with the advances in technology since the founding of the Pokémon League, it had simply become the League Headquarters. However, that did not mean that there were not still battles that took place in the stadium interior, just the opposite. It was quite common for a variety of famous individuals to use rental Pokémon and battle with each other, and even against other League officials.

The helicopter slowed as it was approaching the landing zone. Looking out the window, Giovanni saw a small pad not too far away from the League Headquarters. He saw small figures standing around the pad, almost as if they were waiting for him. The pilot brought the helicopter around and began to settle into position over the pad. Once the aircraft was centered in over the pad, the pilot began the descent. Giovanni could scarcely keep his nerves in check. After so long, so many plans, so many failures, it was finally here. He was so close he could smell it. If all went well, soon, _he_ would be in control of the Pokémon League, one way or the other.

The passengers were silent as the helicopter descended. The apprehension showed on the faces of May, Dawn, and Tracey, though Delia was merely angry. She struggled to loosen her bonds, but was unable to do so. "Don't bother," Butch mocked. "Those bonds are designed to be able to hold Fighting-type Pokémon. There's no way a mere human's gonna break them."

He went to hit Delia but was restrained by one of the League troopers. "You cannot touch any of the prisoners," he bellowed. "If any are harmed, then it will bring down a police investigation to these proceedings and could allow them to be freed."

"Not if the boss has his way," Butch muttered in response, drawing a disapproving glare from Giovanni.

The descent of the helicopter slowed and soon, it came to a halt as it touched down. As it touched down, the cabin vibrated from the impact and the troopers and Rockets had to strap in in order to not be jostled by the impact. The prisoners did not have such a luxury and they struggled to maintain their balance in the seats as the helicopter landed. After a few moments, the pilot's voice came through the speakers, informing them, "We have reached Pokémon League Headquarters. You may exit the helicopter now."

The door opened and a ramp extended from the floor, all the way to the ground. Giovanni was the first to emerge from the helicopter, followed by two Rocket Grunts, and then by the Pokémon League Troopers, each of who was taking a prisoner. Butch and Cassidy were the last to emerge from the helicopter, with Mia in tow. As they made their way down the ramp, Mia tripped and tumbled to the ground. The two Rocket Grunts escorting her laughed as she went down and kicked her in the abdomen while she was down. "Stand up, little girl," they mocked, kicking her again.

"Stop! She's helpless!" Delia cried as she struggled against the guards, trying to reach her daughter and protect her. The guards held her fast, though and did nothing to dissuade the two Rockets from beating on the helpless girl even more. After a few moments, they decided that the girl had sustained enough of a pounding and they let up on her, dragging her to her feet and pushing her forward. The League troopers averted their eyes, scarcely believing the brutality of the two Rockets, but they did nothing to intervene, realizing the need to keep Giovanni and Team Rocket content.

As Giovanni took his first steps forward the doors to the stadium opened and a man came out flanked by two guards. The man was about six feet tall with brown hair and green eyes. He wore a Pokémon League uniform with the emblem of the Pokémon League emblazoned on the left breast of his uniform. The two guards looked to be wearing armor, similar to that of Roman Legions, sharing a similarity with that worn by Giovanni's own elite guards. As the man stepped forward, Giovanni recognized it as the President of the World Pokémon League Committee, Jean Mercier. "Welcome to Pokémon League Headquarters," Mercier proclaimed. "I take it everything has been taken care of?"

"It has," Giovanni answered. "The Champion is dead, killed in the destruction of Team Rocket Headquarters. Here, I have survivors and witnesses to the attack on Team Rocket's base," he continued, motioning towards Delia and the others. Mercier looked at the rear of the group and saw Mia as she almost shambled her way towards the others, stumbling over a rock and almost falling. The Rocket Grunts that were escorting her made certain that she did fall when they pushed her down as she stumbled. That gave them license to kick Mia even more, bringing a scowl of disgust to Mercier's face.

"Tell your goons to stop pounding on the girl," he told Giovanni. "It's going to be difficult enough condemning these people to imprisonment and possibly even death. We don't need to make her even more miserable than she already is."

Giovanni was about to disagree, but seeing that the guards could easily overpower his current forces, as well as the fact that if the Pokémon League wanted, they could take a risk of killing him and the others and try to trick the rest of Team Rocket into delivering the Badge Amplifier to the League Headquarters he saw the wisdom in Mercier's words and he glanced back at the Rockets and shook his head. They each gave a groan but stopped abusing Mia and dragged her to her feet once more. She slumped in his arms, prompting Mercier to grow concerned that she might have sustained more than just a few bruises from the pummeling, but her looking up at him blankly assured him that she was alive, if still a little woozy from the beating.

Mercier grunted and ushered them inside, saying, "Come on, let's get this over with."

The group followed the League President into the building. Delia and the others attempted to resist, but the guards pushed them along, though they did not treat them nearly as roughly as Butch, Cassidy, and the Rocket Grunts had Mia. The interior of the building was lined with a red carpet with numerous statues of Pokémon League Champions, along with their Pokémon, on each side of the walkway. The captives would have been looking around and staring in wonder at the past Champions had they not been in the care of Team Rocket and had not known about the Pokémon League's working with Team Rocket.

The group continued down the corridor until they came to another corridor that crossed with their own. They turned to the right and continued down the second corridor. This one had offices lining both sides of the wall. They continued down about a dozen meters until they came to a large set of double doors with two guards standing next to them. Mercier nodded towards the guards and they saluted him. They then turned and opened the doors, granting Mercier and the others entry into the room.

The room they entered looked a great deal like a cross between a courtroom and a boardroom. All twenty-four members of the World Pokémon League Committee were present and sitting at a table situated in the center of the room. There were benches surrounding the center table, along with two chairs being situated close to the center table, and a podium standing behind the table. Giovanni went to sit at one of the chairs, but Mercier headed over to the podium. Once he took the podium he gazed around at the other committee members as well as the Rockets and the captives. As soon as he moved his gaze over the captives he sighed, "Let's get this over with," knowing that the best fate that they could hope for would be to be imprisoned by the Pokémon League. He saw Butch, Cassidy, and a couple Rocket Grunts holding Mia tightly, despite the fact that she had had her willpower sapped by Azelf and was in no condition to fight.

As soon as he had finished looking out at the audience, he focused back on the committee. "My fellow League members," he began as he had all of his speeches. "You may have wondered why I called out in today so suddenly. As of today, we have captured former World Pokémon League Champion, Leaf, also known as Mia Ketchum, as well as several others in an attack on a base of an ally of the League. Mia is to stand trial for numerous crimes committed against both the Pokémon League and against Team Rocket in the perpetration of said attack."

"Stop!" Delia blurted, struggling against the guards. "You can't do this! My daughter has done nothing wrong!"

"Why not?" Mercier roared.

"Because you haven't read her any of her rights or offered her a lawyer. Also, she's not fit to stand trial," Delia answered. "Mia was hit by the power of Azelf, draining her of any willpower. She cannot defend herself."

Mercier almost took a step back for a second. He looked down at Giovanni and asked, "Is this true?"

Butch and Cassidy let go of Mia and watched as she simply fell to the ground. "It is," Giovanni responded, smiling as the girl fell. "She was hit by the power of Azelf in the battle at Team Rocket Headquarters."

"And when were you going to tell me this?" Mercier roared. He motioned for all recording devices to be shut off. The operators in the booth situated above the hall then shut off all cameras and recording devices in the room. A green light soon turned red, indicating that all recording devices were shut off. "Don't you realize that if we try Mia while she is unfit to stand trial that even her parents, of which only her mother is known could demand a retrial in a United Earth or Federation court? Do you think that Earth or the Federation would ever find her guilty? If anything, they'll not only find her innocent, but give her a medal and investigate us and likely launch their assault on the League!"

The Rockets ignored his rant as Butch kicked Mia once more in the abdomen, her lack of will not even allowing her to grunt, which almost brought a frown to the Rocket Agent's face. Mercier gritted his teeth as the Rockets all laughed at Mia's condition. Delia and the others tried to free themselves from the guards so they could help Mia but they held them fast. Mercier was disgusted with Team Rocket's treatment of Mia and he then directed the guards, "Let out a Pokémon that knows Heal Bell or Aromatherapy now. We need her to be fit for trial in order for these proceedings to resume."

"Will either of those moves work?" one of the guards asked.

"I don't know," Mercier answered. "But we have to at least go through the motions of making her appear to be fit enough to stand trial."

"I don't see why we even have to do this," Cassidy blurted.

"Yeah," Butch echoed. "If she's just gonna get executed or put in prison, why not just get on with it?"

"Because the Pokémon League is a legitimate power, not a criminal organization!" Mercier roared. "Mia must be put on trial for her crimes! That's all there is to it!" Turning back to the guards, he commanded, "Heal her!"

The guards nodded and went over to the girl as she lay on the floor. Some of them briskly pushed aside Butch and Cassidy as they went to attend to the girl. One of the guards then took out a Poké Ball and tossed it into the air. "Chansey, go!" the guard cried.

The ball opened and out came the egg-like Chansey. Chansey landed on the ground and gave a cry, "Chansey!"

"Chansey, use Heal Bell on Leaf," the guard commanded.

"Chan," the Pokémon answered, nodding.

Chansey then looked down at Mia and a ringing sound echoed throughout the room. Suddenly, all the weariness and bruises left all of the attendees, both Rocket and legitimate Trainer alike. Delia and the others felt a refreshing sensation come over them as the lethargy caused by the fighting they had partaken in left them. They looked down at Mia and saw her blink and look around intently, her willpower restored. Then, she suddenly performed a leg sweep on one of the guards and knocked him off her feet. She pushed herself up to her feet and jabbed her hand into Butch's throat, knocking him back and causing him to clutch his throat since her strike caused his breathing to become strained due to the strike on the trachea. Just as suddenly as she had launched into her attack, though, she was frozen as a blue outline surrounded the girl. "That is quite enough," Mercier cried, a Poké Ball in his right hand. Standing in front of him was an Alakazam, its eyes glowing.

 _So that's where Team Rocket got so many Alakazams_ , the girl surmised as she was forcibly turned towards the committee members and she saw the Alakazam standing in front of the League President. Soon, two guards were present and they gripped her arms and pulled them behind her back. They then bound her hands together tightly. After they had finished binding her hands, the glow died and Alakazam's eyes returned to normal. "Good work Alakazam," Mercier told his Pokémon. "Return."

He then recalled Alakazam back into its Poké Ball and clipped the ball back to his belt. Then, the proceedings got underway in earnest.

"Mia Ketchum," Mercier began. "You have been brought before the International Pokémon League Committee on the charges of breaking and entering, theft, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with Pokémon, battery, resisting arrest, contempt of the Pokémon League, and last, but not least, murder."

"Murder?" Delia, and the others blurted for Mia. "When?" the girl's mother finished.

"Many members of Team Rocket were killed during the attack on Team Rocket's Headquarters. And let's not get to the number of fatalities suffered by Team Rocket in the attempt to apprehend you at the hotel," Mercier responded.

"They were criminals!" Delia blurted for Mia, taking the role of her attorney. "Team Rocket are known thieves and murders!"

"Team Rocket is also now an officially sanctioned organization under the auspices of the Pokémon League and is, indeed, now part of the Pokémon League," Mercier snapped, taking Delia aback. "In addition, Giovanni is a member of the International Pokémon League Committee. An attack on him, and on Team Rocket, is an attack on the League!" Mercier then gave a signal to the operators in the booth. A screen then came down and the lights dimmed. "Not only that, but there is the fact that several Pokémon League troopers were also killed during the attack." A scene from the battle then played, showing a scene where Mia shot and killed a Pokémon League trooper that had drawn a bead on Ash with his Ray Gun. Another scene then played where Mia shot a League trooper who was about to shoot Delia during the escape attempt from the helicopter. "As you can see, we have incontrovertible proof of Mia's crimes."

"Crimes?" Delia blurted, as did the other captives. "Mia only shot them to protect Ash and us!" she cried. "The League troopers were the criminals there!"

"Oh, that reminds me," Mercier began sarcastically. "You and the other captives are also on trial for aiding and abetting, as well as for murder, yourselves. Or did you forget how you killed the Rocket Brothers in your attempt to escape from the helicopter?"

"What? You can't be serious!" Delia cried. "We were defending ourselves from Team Rocket and you! We committed no crimes and no court in the world would convict them of anything for what they did to the Rocket Brothers _after_ they had been kidnapped by them!"

"I would worry less about their issues and more about the punishment you will face for _your_ crimes," Mercier declared.

"Punishment? What about the trial?"

"It's over!" the President boomed. "And the verdict is guilty on all counts!"

"What?" Delia roared in shock. "That was no trial. Mia wasn't even given the chance to defend herself!"

"You seemed to take that role quite nicely Mrs. Ketchum," Mercier retorted. "As such, the trial still stands with no grounds for an appeal or mistrial."

"You can't be serious! Mia only used deadly force in self-defense. She, nor we, would have ever come after Team Rocket had they not attacked us in the first place during my son's birthday celebration!"

Mercier was about to write off what Delia was saying as rambling when he heard that the attack would not have occurred had Team Rocket not struck first. He then went to confer with the rest of the committee. Stepping down, he went over to the table and they talked amongst themselves for a few minutes. As they were talking, Giovanni began to grow visibly concerned that they would give a sentence other than death for Mia and possibly allow the others to go free. As much as he did not want them to know it, he needed the Pokémon League just as much as they needed him, even with Mia firmly in his custody and Ash dead.

Once the League officials' conversation was finished, Mercier returned to the podium and proclaimed, "In light of all of the evidence, as well as the fact that Team Rocket were the aggressors in this conflict, the sentence of death for Mia Ketchum and all of the other participants in the fighting is commuted." This brought a grimace from Giovanni. "However, the fact that Mia performed an act of insubordination and directly killed a number of Pokémon League troopers cannot be ignored. As such, we have decided to sentence Mia, without the possibility of reprieve or parole, life imprisonment inside the dungeons of Pokémon League Headquarters," Mercier finished.

"Wait!" Giovanni called out from his seat.

"What is it?" Mercier asked in an annoyed tone.

"I request that Mia Ketchum be remanded into the custody of Team Rocket."

"On what grounds!" Mercier roared before catching himself and, remembering his position, turning apologetically to Giovanni and giving a contrite bow. "Forgive me," he half muttered, half whispered. Delia's heart sank and she seethed, along with the others, even more at the sight. It was clear now that Team Rocket had control of the Pokémon League and that they were nothing more than Giovanni's lackeys.

"On the grounds that it was Team Rocket that was her target and Team Rocket that Leaf wronged," Giovanni answered calmly, as if he had not heard Jean Mercier's previous outburst. However, he did give a snide chuckle just before continuing, "While I regret that several Pokémon League troopers were killed or wounded in the fighting, we were the real target of the girl and her allies. As such, I request that we be allowed to take her into custody. In addition, only the committee members and yourself are aware of the League's affiliation with Team Rocket. The new committee members that will replace Lance and Cynthia might not know about our collaboration until they are elected. As such, if they do not agree with this collaboration, they may secretly free Leaf and the others from confinement."

Mercier grunted. As much as he did not want to admit it, Giovanni had a point. Mia had shown herself to be quite dangerous, even without Pokémon. She had already escaped Team Rocket at one point. It would be foolish for him to ignore the prospect of her escaping the Pokémon League dungeons, especially if not all of the committee members agreed with the collaboration of Team Rocket and/or if the replacements for Cynthia and Lance shared their views, as well as those of Mia. As such, with difficulty, he declared, "So be it. Giovanni, I shall remand Mia Ketchum to the custody of Team Rocket."

"No!" Delia cried. "You can't do that! You know what they'll do to her! She won't survive the night!"

"Silence!" Mercier roared. "You should be more worried about your fate and that of your daughter!"

Delia grunted as May then declared, "This trial is nothing but a farce! You're nothing but Team Rocket's lackeys!"

That accusation took Mercier aback and Giovanni began to look genuinely concerned when Mercier took a step back. Had the girl's accusation gotten to him? Was Mercier having second thoughts? It would be easy to explain a sudden betrayal of Team Rocket, especially with the Badge Amplifier already en route to the League Headquarters. The only thing was that Mercier likely did not know that Giovanni had already sent for the Badge Amplifier to be sent to League Headquarters. And Giovanni knew that if Mercier and the others betrayed him, that he and his forces would be vastly outnumbered and outclassed by the Pokémon League forces. Fortunately, Mercier stepped back to the podium and declared, "Since the four of you have also committed a large number of crimes against the Pokémon League, I sentence all four of you to life imprisonment inside the dungeons of the Pokémon League." And turning to Giovanni, he continued, "And before you request that they be remanded into your custody, know that these four do not have the same array of crimes against them as Mia." This brought a sarcastic chuckle from Delia and the captives, each of them knowing that they fought just as hard against Team Rocket as Ash and Mia had. "Instead, they were captured by the Pokémon League and their crimes were against us."

"The deaths of the Rocket Brothers disagrees," Giovanni retorted.

"You already have your brace," Mercier countered. "You can do whatever you want to Mia. She's yours now. We'll keep hold of the others. They won't be allowed to escape, but I will _not_ sacrifice them to you."

Giovanni stared at Mercier in challenge for a few moments. Mercier glared back at Giovanni, his hatred for the Rocket Boss showing on his face. This time, he would not back down. Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey were not important enough for Giovanni to risk a battle. Mercier almost hoped that Giovanni would push the issue and give him a reason to betray Team Rocket. It was getting to the point where he would take his chances with United Earth and the Galactic Federation, rather than give Team Rocket anything of what they were asking for. He saw the hateful and perverted gazes that the Rocket Grunts, save for James, and to a lesser extent, Jessie and Meowth, cast on Mia. While he could understand their hatred of her, the knowledge that they were likely to make what was left of her life a living nightmare did not sit well with him. Unfortunately, Giovanni, seeing that he was hoping for a fight, decided to back down and replied, "Very well Jean. You may keep Delia and the others. But _I_ get Leaf," he added with a dark grin.

"Yes, you do," Mercier echoed in a melancholy tone. He then motioned for the guards to lead Delia and the others away while Giovanni's forces took hold of Mia.

As soon as Butch went to grab her, though, she ducked down and performed a leg sweep, knocking the Rocket Agent to the ground. She then rolled back so she could bring her bound hands forward. After doing so, she swung at Cassidy, hitting her squarely in the head, knocking her to the ground. Mia then ran, full sprint, towards the exit. However, as she ran, she was quickly intercepted by an Alakazam that appeared right in front of her, its eyes glowing. Delia and the other captives soon attempted to make their own escape, but the Alakazam soon stopped them in their tracks as well. Soon, one of the guards then released a Parasect and commanded, "Use Spore on Mia and the other captives. Don't let them escape!"

Parasect obeyed his master and a yellow cloud was released from the massive mushroom on its back. The yellow cloud flowed over Delia, May, Dawn, and Tracey, as well as some of the guards holding them and everyone who breathed in the cloud fell asleep. However, Mia had managed to avoid breathing in the spore cloud.

Giovanni gritted his teeth and took out a Poké Ball and tossed it, saying, "Uxie, finish this."

The Poké Ball opened and out came Uxie, who immediately teleported right in front of Mia and looked her squarely in the eyes. The moment he did so, Mia's eyes went blank and she slumped forward, almost as if she had also lost her willpower along with her memory. A blast of Sleep Powder then washed over her and put her to sleep. The Team Rocket guards smirked as they neared her. "Well, it looks like the charade is no longer needed."

Butch growled as he approached Mia to grab her and drag her to the helicopter. "Would have been useful to let me know you were controlling her and that she actually had not recovered from being drained by Azelf," he growled at a Pokémon League trooper.

"It wasn't me," the trooper answered. "It was the Alakazam. Besides, we couldn't have a record of her not being fit for the trial."

"Tell that to my throat and back," Butch answered, moaning from how sore his back was from when he had hit the ground.

With Mia having been dealt with, Mercier commanded the guards that were still awake, "Take Delia and the others to the dungeon."

Giovanni then turned to Jessie and James and told them, "You two take Mia. Our helicopter should be here at any moment."

"Yes sir," both Rockets responded as they each gripped one of the sleeping girl's arms and pulled her up. They then ushered her towards the exit far more gently than Butch or Cassidy would have. Butch gave a scowl as Jessie and James actually treated her as a human, rather than a punching bag. He wanted Mia to suffer for what she had done to him, as well as to Team Rocket.

Not too far away, Mercier glanced over at Giovanni and said, "I've kept up my end of the bargain. Now you must keep yours. I want this Badge Amplifier that you've built."

"It's already being delivered," Giovanni responded. "Come. It should arrive shortly."

The Pokémon League President followed Giovanni and the two exited the room as the rest of the committee filed out. As the two walked down the hall, Mercier heard the sound of a helicopter outside. "Excellent, they're here," he heard Giovanni mutter as the sound of the engines of a helicopter could be heard outside.

Once the group exited the building, Mercier saw two Team Rocket twin rotored cargo helicopters on the ground, their engines still powered. He watched as Jessie, James, hand Mia off to a large Rocket with a purple mohawk, wearing a standard Team Rocket uniform. The Rocket then ushered her onto the helicopter not nearly as brutally as Butch had ushered her off. After a few moments, a Rocket Scientist, escorted by three Rocket Grunts, emerged from the helicopter, pushing a hand truck that carried a large machine that was easily the size of a large refrigerator down the ramp.

"Is that it?" Mercier asked.

"It is," Giovanni answered. "Place your badges inside and their power will be greatly amplified. It'll be enough for you to control even the strongest of Legendary Pokémon."

"Good," Mercier said.

The Rockets then came over and deposited the machine next to him. Mercier raised his right hand, signaling for two guards to come. "Scan it," he directed once the Rockets were out of earshot. "I want to make sure that it's functional."

"Yes sir," they replied. The guards then took out a Pokédex-like device and ran it over the entire machine. After looking at the screen, they told him, "It's good. There are no foreign devices in the machine."

"Excellent," Mercier cooed. "Take the Amplifier to the main meeting room."

"Yes sir," the guards replied as they pushed the hand truck into the building.

As the guards were leaving, Giovanni came over and gave a chuckle. "I'm hurt that you don't trust me enough to not double and triple check everything I bring you."

"You're a criminal," Mercier retorted. "Working with you was done out of necessity. Now that we have what we want, I don't want to see you again."

"Very well," Giovanni said, grinning. Before leaving, though, he turned back and asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to leave a technician or two to teach you how to operate the machine?"

"We can manage," Mercier grunted.

"Very well," the Rocket Boss shrugged. "But I still think that I should leave a tech or two, just in case."

"We're fine!" Mercier snapped. "I don't need you anymore Giovanni. The next time we meet, it won't be as friends. Now leave before I kick you out!"

"Fine," Giovanni retorted smartly. He watched as Mercier retreated back into the building. He gave a dark grin and did not move as Mercier's guards followed him into the building leaving him all alone outside. "You fool," he murmured. Mercier never knew that Giovanni and the Rockets from the second helicopter had not left the grounds.

Back inside Pokémon League Headquarters, Mercier made his way into the main meeting hall. It was a large hall with plain gray walls with a long table that was able to sit the entire World Pokémon League Committee. In the corner of the room was the Badge Amplifier that Mercier and the League, had sold their souls to get a hold of. It was a gray machine that that had a dome for a top with three antennae sticking out from the top and several slots on its sides. There were also several blinking lights on the machine, indicating that it was operational. Once he entered the room, the committee all rose in his presence. "Be seated," he told the committee.

The committee members seated themselves and he went over to the table and declared, "It's time. Let's test this thing. I want to know how well it works."

"That may be difficult," one of the committee members said. "We'll either need a Legendary Pokémon or have a Pokémon do something that would go against its own beliefs in order to know if the Badge Amplifier will be successful."

"We could have a Legendary attack Unova," another committee member suggested. "Unova has seceded from the Pokémon World and joined United Earth, and it will likely give the Federation information on us so as to avoid any further punishment. We could use this as an opportunity to stop them before they become a real threat. If nothing else, we could simply say that we found evidence of a resurgence of Team Plasma."

"Alright, let's take a vote on it," Mercier stated. "All in favor!" All committee members and Mercier raised their hands.

"All opposed?" No one raised their hand at the second declaration.

"Then the motion passes unanimously!" Mercier declared. "And once we're sure that this thing works, we'll deal with Team Rocket. We've let them hang around for far too long."

"Aye," the committee members echoed.

"And we'll strip Giovanni of his committee membership rank, too," Mercier added. That drew a series of cheers from the committee.

With that business having concluded, he went over to a drawer on the wall and opened it. He reached in and pulled out a gray badge case. Opening the case, he saw the eight Kanto badges present in the case. He then closed the case and went over to the Amplifier. He pushed a button and one of the slots opened. He placed a badge case in the machine and then closed the slot. He then went over to the control terminal of the machine and input a series of commands on the machine. The machine soon lit up and it became active. It began to beep and move as if there were something inside of it. Mercier watched it operate and gazed at it curiously, suspecting that something was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when the machine suddenly shut down, and went silent, prompting Mercier to glare at it in annoyance. "What the…? What the hell is wrong with this stupid thing?"

They were the last words that Mercier, or anyone in the room spoke, for the machine promptly exploded. A wall of fire engulfed Mercier and the council and they were instantly incinerated as the machine exploded, the explosion destroying the entire room and a large portion of the floor they were situated on.

Outside the Pokémon League Headquarters, Giovanni watched and waited. He knew that it would not be long before he was finally in charge of the Pokémon League. After a few minutes, he heard an explosion come from inside the building, along with a tremor in the ground. He gave a dark grin. It was finished. Looking back at the second helicopter, he nodded. The boarding ramp descended and a team of Rocket Grunts and officers stepped off the ramp, among them Jessie, James, Meowth, and Aizen. The Rocket Grunts deployed their standard Poison-type Pokémon and awaited Giovanni's order. Giovanni then told them, "The explosion inside the building must have killed the entire committee, save for me, of course." That drew a series of chuckles from the Grunts. "Go in, though, and make sure that all officials and committee members are dead. For any guards you encounter, give them a choice. Tell them that they can join me and my new Pokémon League if they wish. If they refuse, kill them."

"Yes sir," all Rockets save for James answered. However, Jessie and Meowth's answers wavered in their tones, indicating that this order troubled them. The other Rockets did not have any issues with the orders, though, as they all charged in, save for Aizen. Jessie, James, and Meowth soon followed the others in, though, but were careful to stay at the back of the pack, ostensibly to keep a lookout for any ambushes, but in reality, to make sure that they did not kill anyone while the building was being cleared out.

As the others entered the building, Giovanni got out his cell phone and dialed a number. He waited for a few moments as a series of rings came in on the phone. Eventually, it was answered and the voice of Butch asked, "Yeah boss, what is it?"

"Everything at Pokémon League Headquarters is complete," Giovanni answered. "I want you to kill Leaf as soon as you get back to Mahogany Town base."

"Any way in particular you want us to do it?" was Butch's next question.

"No. I just want her dead. Have as much fun with her as you want just as long as she dies."

"Understood. Anything else?"

"Yes. Tell Archer and the others to send over Genesect, Darkrai, Cresselia, and the Legendaries. With the Badge Amplifier, we can finally control them."

"Got it."

Giovanni then hang up the phone and grinned. He had it all, now. When the forces of United Earth came he would be ready. Aizen then sided up next to him and said, "You really want the girl to suffer, don't you."

"Yes. I want her to suffer horribly before she dies. That's why I left her with Butch and had her taken back to our base in Mahogany Town, where all the perverted thugs are."

Aizen gave a chuckle. "And what about Lance, Cynthia, Delia, and the others?"

"Have them killed, too."

Aizen gave a frown. "Must we? I actually have a use for some of them."

This piqued Giovanni's interest. "What possible use would they be?"

"You'll undoubtedly want to have a security force for Pokémon League Headquarters should the Gym Leaders try anything. They would be perfect. And besides, my Pokémon sensed that the current champion Ash Ketchum is still alive. You'll want to have strong Trainers and Pokémon face off against him. And who better to face off against him than his own friends?"

Giovanni grinned evilly. "I like the way you think. Do it! But there is one thing I want."

"What is it?"

"I want Delia to come with me, and the two other girls to be sent to the Rocket Game Corner in Celadon City. Will that be a problem for your plan?"

"No," Aizen answered. "But I must ask why you want the girls to be sent to a casino?"

"We've suffered incredible losses in these last few fights," Giovanni answered. "The remaining Rockets that aren't present here are gathered there and need something to boost their morale. Think of it as the spoils of war."

"With pleasure," Aizen chuckled as the two of them walked into their new headquarters.

Meanwhile, back in the forest not too far away from the remains of Team Rocket Headquarters, John Ketchum rode his bike, carrying Ash in back, towards his small cabin in the distance. Since it was relatively deep in the woods, it would hopefully not be noticed by Team Rocket if they went to scour the area for any potential survivors. The fact that John used a hoverbike to reach it also made it less likely that they would be spotted by any Rockets that were scanning the surrounding areas for any survivors of the headquarters' destruction. Following close behind were Charizard and Tyranitar, who was struggling to keep pace with the anti-grav bike and the part Flying-type Pokémon. There were several points in the trek that John had to slow down in order to allow Tyranitar to catch up. As Tyranitar brought up the rear, John almost cringed, for he quickly realized that Tyranitar was a heavy Pokémon and would be easy to track if Team Rocket were looking for him. The good news, though, was that Tyranitar was not following the main trail, instead following a game trail that was not too far from the main trail. Unless Team Rocket were specifically looking for them, it was unlikely that they would think much of Tyranitar's tracks, especially since the tracks would have started a ways away from where Team Rocket Headquarters once stood.

Eventually the group arrived at a small cabin that looked to be able to house no more than one or two people comfortably. It was made of logs and looked just like the stereotypical log cabin in the middle of the woods. John, along with Ash and Pikachu, were the first ones to arrive. When John arrived, he pulled the bike up to the side of the cabin and stopped it, deactivating the bike and then dismounting from it and gathering Ash into his arms. Pikachu also quickly dismounted the bike and joined Ash's father. As he did so, Charizard soon landed next to him. After a few moments, Tyranitar brought up the rear, the shaking of the ground from his footfalls announcing his approach, and eventual arrival. When he finally reached the cabin, he placed his short arms on his knees and slumped over, breathing heavily. He issued a series of grunts and groans but John did not have his Pokédex translator out to translate what the Armor Pokémon was saying. Still, he had a pretty good idea that Tyranitar was commenting about the distance and how tired he was.

John wasted no time taking his son into the cabin, the other Pokémon scanning the area before following him in. Once they entered the cabin, they found that it was unsurprisingly sparsely furnished. There was a single bed against the wall not too far away from a window. Not too far away from the bed was a dresser that had two drawers. There was a sofa in the middle of the floor close to a table. There was also a TV against the wall, though there did not seem to be a cable box and the Pokémon did not notice a satellite dish or antenna outside, so they guessed that it got a very limited selection of channels. Then again, figuring that this cabin was not designed to be a vacation spot, they figured that the TV was there for John to follow the news, as well as possibly know if he were being tracked.

Once he entered the cabin he quickly placed Ash on the bed and drew a quilt over him. He looked down at his son affectionately as Pikachu approached him. "Pika pika Pikapi? Pika pika pikaka Pikachu?"

John did not have his Pokédex out, but he still knew what Pikachu was asking. He then gently took hold of Ash's wrist and placed two fingers on it, checking the boy's pulse. He could feel the rhythmic throb of blood flowing through his veins and arteries. He then got out a flashlight and shined it into his son's eyes. The pupils dilated as if he were perfectly healthy. After the short checkup, he answered Pikachu, "As before, physically, he appears to still be healthy. However, as you can see, he is otherwise unresponsive."

He then quickly got out his Pokédex and activated its translation software. He soon got Pikachu's next question. [Is there any way that someone who has been hit by the powers of the Lake Guardians can be healed?]

John looked down at the floor and answered, "I don't know for certain. Curing one of the conditions might be doable, but curing all three will be no small feat to say the least."

As he was answering Pikachu, Charizard and Tyranitar entered the cabin, both Pokémon being careful to gently squeeze through the entrance that was designed for a human, rather than large Pokémon. Charizard issued a series of short roars that were translated as, [We've secured the area. It doesn't seem like anyone tracked us here.]

"Good," John said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Charizard looked over at Ash and asked, [How is he?]

"As I told Pikachu, he's fine physically; it's just that his mind has been wiped, as has his willpower and emotions."

[Is there anything that can be done?]

John was about to say that the chances of curing Ash were slim, but he began to consider something. "Maybe," he said distantly.

He quickly went over to the drawer and pulled it open. Reaching in, he grabbed a bottle of clear water along with a shining pendant and brought them over to Ash. [What is that?] Pikachu asked, pointing to the bottle of water.

"It's Sacred Water from a faraway world called Hylia," John answered. "It is said to have healing properties. Legend has it that it healed a massive dragon. Let's hope that it can heal Ash of his current condition."

He reached down and tilted Ash's head up so he could administer the water to him. He uncorked the bottle and put it to Ash's lips. He then poured the liquid into Ash's mouth and hoped that it would activate while in Ash's mouth so that he would remember how to swallow. Miraculously, the moment the water touched the lips, Ash immediately swallowed it safely. The moment he did so, he glanced at his surroundings, focusing his gaze on his father, and then on Pikachu, and finally on Charizard. When he gazed at Pikachu, Pikachu cried, "Pikapi!"

Ash, however, merely cocked his head, looking curiously at Pikachu. "What…is…that?" he asked waveringly.

John sighed. While Ash seemed to be able to speak, albeit with difficulty, and seemed to have his emotions, he did not recognize Pikachu, who appeared to be closer to him than any human save for his mother. "Pikapi?" Pikachu said, hoping to jog Ash's memory. Still, the boy looked absently at the electric mouse and did not say anything further.

"That's not important right now Ash," John answered his son. "Just rest and get some sleep. It'll come back," he assured his son.

"Huh? Who are you?" Ash asked. The questions gave John hope. The boy was at the very least had the willpower to reiterate his questions when he did not get a satisfactory answer.

Pikachu looked at John and asked, [Is there anything else we can do?]

John nodded. "We can use the Pendant of Memories on him," he answered.

[What's that?]

"It's a magical pendant that can help recover lost memories," John answered. "The water restored his willpower and emotions, but not his mind. This is the only thing I have that may be able to restore Ash's memories."

[Will it work?] Pikachu asked in a hopeful tone.

"Let's hope so," John answered.

He then turned back to Ash and reached out with the pendant to give to Ash. "What's that?" the boy asked.

"It's a gift," John answered. "Take it."

"I can't accept this," Ash said. "I don't know you and it looks like it costs a lot."

"That's why it's a gift," John answered, smiling. "Money is no object for me. Take it," he insisted kindly.

Ash unsteadily reached out to the pendant and opened his hand. John quickly put the pendant in his hand and closed the boy's fingers over it. "Now rest," he told Ash.

He did not have to tell the boy twice, for the ordeal that he had gone through was exhausting. Ash merely settled into the pillow and closed his eyes. When he did so, the world that he knew vanished and he was whisked away to a dream.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

After a few moments, a new world began to materialize around Ash. It was obvious to him that he was in a dream, but this dream was far more vivid than he ever could imagine. He also suddenly realized that he remembered his name and how to speak. "Ash, Mia, Pikachu, anyone?" he said, marshalling his tongue, just making certain that he could, indeed, speak once more. He then gazed out at his surroundings and saw a beach scene where a younger version of himself and Mia were playing while their parents were watching over them. _Our parents_? he almost gasped. So it was true. Everything that he had heard about his father leaving him and Delia when he was young was wrong. Ever since he had met Mia and learned that she was his twin sister, he had suspected that several other memories were either incomplete or outright wrong. He did not concern himself about that at the moment. Right now, he decided to simply watch the scene unfolding around him. He saw younger versions of himself and Mia playing in the sand. They looked to be about eight years old judging from their appearance. He also soon somehow remembered that something big had taken place on his eighth birthday and he suspected that this was only a few weeks before said birthday took place.

Glancing back at the scene, he soon saw his parents sneak a kiss when they thought that their children were not looking. Young Ash made a face when he saw his parents kissing and turned away disgusted. Mia came up from behind her twin brother, smiling mischievously, and puckered her lips. He smiled again as Mia chased his younger self teasing, "Kissy, kissy." He watched as his father scooped his sister into his arms and admonished her playfully. Before the image went to Mia blowing a kiss to Ash, causing him to recoil in disgust, the world went white again.

When the world re-formed, he saw that he was standing in the back yard of his house. He noticed that his mother was trying to talk to Mia, but she did not want to hear anything from her. "Mia," his mother began, "this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. One that I don't want you to throw away."

"But I hate singing," Mia complained. "Besides, I didn't even sign up for choir," she contested.

Delia's frown indicated that she did not believe her. "Then why was your name on the list of choir members?" she asked, pointing to a sheet of paper that had Mia and Ash's names on it, as well as others.

"Because we took a test and I scored high enough to get in, and because I was a fool for not quitting earlier. And when I did quit, it was too late to get out of this stupid concert and into the Dance Troupe or Kids Concert Band. I'll gladly accept the punishment, just don't make me go to this concert."

"But you'll be able to dance while you sing in the performance," Delia offered.

"That's even worse than just singing!" Mia almost yelled. "I don't want to do this."

Delia gave her daughter a stern look and said, "I'm sorry Mia, but I won't let you get out of this commitment. You made a commitment and now you must keep it."

"There's something else. Normally, I'd simply stand there like a stone and not sing at all, but here, I believe that there's something up with this concert. I mean, 'The Rockets' Show Choir'? It sounds like a front for Team Rocket."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Mia," Delia scoffed, amazed at Mia's seeming desperation to avoid the concert. "Your attempts to get out of this will not work. You will perform in the concert."

"Fine!" Mia yelled. "But if anything happens to me or Ash, know that I will view _you_ as the one responsible!" Mia then stormed back into the house as Delia put her head in her hands. "Oh Mia, if only you knew that I have your best interests in mind. If you open your mind, you'll appreciate this opportunity." Ash could only watch as he suddenly realized why Mia had been so hesitant to meet with their mother after their relationship had been discovered. The world then went white again.

When the world reappeared, Ash saw that he was standing on the same beach that he and Mia had been on in the first vision. He quickly noticed his younger self leading Mia by the arm. She had a blindfold over her eyes. "Come on Ash, when can I take off this blindfold?"

Young Ash led her forward a few more steps before answering, "Okay, you can take it off now."

Mia did so and saw a beach scene around her. She saw the waves crashing on the shoreline. She looked into the sky and saw the seagulls flying overhead. Above them, she saw some military starfighters fly by, the roar of their engines permeating the landscape for the next minute or so. Her eyes went wide and sparkled. "Happy birthday Mia," Ash said, coming up from behind.

Mia instantly turned around and hugged him fiercely. "Oh, thank you, Ash! Thank you! This is the best birthday present ever!"

Ash looked down at his sister, blushing, and said, "You're welcome."

The image fast-forwarded a couple hours and Ash soon saw his younger self and Mia in bathing suits, playing in the ocean. Ash watched them for a few minutes. After an hour, he saw the two get back on shore and build a gigantic sand fortress. He watched as he and Mia built over a dozen trench lines, the battlements and watchtowers that surrounded the main tower of the fortress. They sculpted the bricks of the fortress perfectly. Ash overheard his younger self and Mia talking to each other. Young Ash soon asked, "So, what do you think about the impending concert?"

"I hope we can stay here all day and skip that stupid thing," she answered. "I have a bad feeling about the concert; and it's not just the fact that I hate singing. I just know that something's going to go wrong." She gave a subtle shudder. Her expression soon brightened. "Oh well," she shrugged mischievously. "If we don't make it there, no big deal, right?"

"Yeah, maybe," Ash replied, trying to echo his sister's smile. "To tell you the truth, I've had a bad feeling ever since that concert was announced. I've been noticing some people watching us as we walk home from school."

"Yeah, me too," Mia agreed, nodding.

When the sand fortress was finally completed, the two stepped back and took a long look at the amazing work of art that they had created. They looked at the ring of twelve trenches that surrounded the main fortress, which consisted of many battlements and towers with a large, tall tower in the center of the fortress. "Well, the castle should stand for quite a while," Ash said with pride.

"Yeah," Mia agreed. "And it wouldn't have been possible without me," she added with a haughty smile.

"I could have done it," Ash countered. "It just would have taken longer."

The two then looked towards the sun, which was sinking towards the horizon. The afternoon was getting on and it was three hours back to their house. Ash noticed his younger self and Mia smiling as they then looked at each other. The image of the world fast-forwarded again to when it was almost four o'clock Ash judged by looking to the sky. Then things came flooding back into his mind. He had a good idea of how things were going to play out. He saw his younger self and Mia walking along the side of the road when a car pulled up next to the beach. Out stepped their mother. She ran towards the children and stopped right in front of them. "Alright you two, start talking," she demanded. "What the heck were you two thinking coming all the way out here without any supervision? I was worried sick about you all day. If it wasn't for these two men who found you here," she motioned towards two men who were standing near a phone booth, "and were keeping track of you, I would never have found you!"

 _I was kind of wishing you hadn't_ , Mia thought angrily as she turned to face away from her mother, a ferocious scowl crossing her face.

"It was my idea," Ash blurted hastily, coming to his sister's defense. "I wanted to give Mia a birthday present that she would remember for a long time. I was hoping that we could stay a bit longer. I know Mia doesn't want to go to this concert, but she had no idea what I was planning. If you want to punish anyone, punish me."

Mia then broke in and declared, "If you punish him, you must punish me as well. I'm the one who wanted to stay here for several more hours."

Delia gave both children a scowl. "Get in the car, we'll discuss this on the way home," she said, harshly.

The children obeyed their mother and got in the car. The doors then closed and the car sped off. Ash expected the vision to go white again, but it didn't. He then saw one of the two men in black uniforms get out their cell phone. Ash then noticed that on the back of the shirt that one of the men wore, he could see part of a red letter. He had a feeling that it was an "R." Ash suspected that the men were members of Team Rocket. One of them dialed his phone. Ash approached the men so he could hear what the men were saying. The one on the phone said, "The mother just came to pick up the kids. Everything is back on track. I wonder why you didn't want us to take the kids now?"

The man waited for a moment and then said, "Very well. We'll be returning to base now and carry out the original plan." The Rocket and his partner then went into a car and drove off.

When an image formed once again, he saw Ash and Mia inside a car with their mother, on a highway heading towards a huge, domed auditorium. Delia approached the auditorium. She drove into the parking lot and searched for a space. Fortunately, she found one close to the auditorium. She parked the car and stepped outside. Two doors in the back of the car opened and out stepped Ash and Mia Ketchum. Delia, who was dressed in an elegant short-sleeved sky-blue dress that went down to her ankles, beamed at her less than enthusiastic children. If looks could kill, Mia's glare would have vaporized her mother, while Ash simply avoided making eye contact with her. Delia went into the auditorium through the fan entrance while Ash and Mia went in through the performers' entrance.

The image then fast-forwarded. "What?!" Ash heard a girl's voice scream from inside a dressing room. "They don't expect me to wear _this_ do they?" It took him a few moments to realize that the scream came from his sister.

After a few minutes, Ash noticed his younger self come down with his mother. Ash was dressed in a tuxedo with black dress shoes. Delia beamed at him. Ash approached the door to Mia's dressing room and knocked. "I'm not coming out!" was the response from behind the door.

"But Mia, Mom's down here. She wants to get a picture of us before we go out on stage."

"I don't want to," Mia answered.

"Come on honey," Delia pleaded. "Come out so we can get a picture. Besides, your father will be coming to your concert. He's so proud of you."

"I don't care. What I really want to do is leave this place. Maybe we could actually _meet_ Father instead of making him come to us."

"Come on honey. Come on out. I want a picture of you and Ash together before you go on stage. You can continue brooding after I take the picture, okay?"

After a few moments, the door to the dressing room opened. Out stepped a dark and brooding Mia, who was wearing her black hair down so it fell below her shoulders to the middle of her back. She was dressed in a glittering black, sleeveless dress, which fit her dark mood perfectly, that was cut several inches above the knee, several inches too high for the girl's liking. Ash saw his younger self begin to laugh as he looked at Mia. A venomous stare from his twin sister instantly silenced him. Delia could not have been more proud of her daughter. "Wow, Mia, you're so beautiful," she said, beaming. "And Ash, you're so handsome. You two will steal the show tonight!" she exclaimed with a very healthy dose of pride in her voice.

Delia's attempt to lift Mia's spirits failed and she refused to meet her mother's gaze. Delia did her best to look somewhat understanding at her daughter, but she was still too proud of her children; and they had yet to even take the stage. Delia got Ash and Mia to stand together while she leveled the camera. Ash did his best to smile, but Mia simply refused to even look towards the camera. She even tried to hide behind Ash. He had to hold her in front of the camera in order for the picture to be taken. Even when the picture was finally taken, Mia still was not smiling. The picture was jettisoned from the camera and Delia looked at it. Mia ran over to the picture and looked at it. She smiled harshly when she saw her scowl in the picture. Delia then went to the door. "I can't wait until you go out on stage with the choir. Your father and I are so proud of you!" she joyfully exclaimed as she looked back to Ash and Mia. Mia's scowl was still present. Delia then approached Mia, knelt down next to her daughter and said, "Let me give you a piece of advice."

Mia slowly turned to her mother and responded, "Okay, what is it?"

"Try to have fun out on stage. When I was part of the choir I enjoyed performing much more when I let myself have fun. Trust me, you'll enjoy performing a lot more."

"Thanks Mom," Mia said in an unconvinced voice, not meaning a word of what she said. She just wanted her mother to stop badgering her. Delia then left, much to Mia's relief. "It's hard to have fun when you're forced to do something you hate," Mia said quietly.

As Ash watched the scene, had a feeling that something big was going to happen tonight, something bad. As he looked at his younger self and Mia, he knew that they too suspected something. Ash then heard his younger self say, "Hey Mia, we should be goin' backstage. The choir will be practicing. You should at least know the songs and the dance moves so you can at least act like you're in line with the rest of us."

"Go on ahead of me," Mia told him. "I'll join you shortly."

Ash then left the dressing area through the door that Delia had exited through. When the door closed behind Ash, Mia smiled. "Sorry Ash, but I have other plans."

She quickly went back into her dressing room and went to a locker. She opened the locker and she pulled out a book. It contained a floor plan of the entire stadium, including all of the secret entrances and exits. Mia studied the map carefully. "Something big is going to happen tonight, and I have a bad feeling that I'm in the middle of it."

She then heard a racking at her door. She approached it and opened the door. Standing in front of her was a large man in a black uniform with what looked to be a leather jacket. The jacket was zipped up save for the last couple inches. Ash could not help but notice a small red arch from the shirt underneath. He figured that it was an R that was being covered by the jacket. "What is it?" Mia asked almost slumping forward.

"The choir director wishes for you to join the others. They are practicing now."

"I'll be there soon," Mia told him.

"Just be sure you get there in time to go on stage," the man said in a gruff voice. The way the man said it made Mia suspicious that something was not right. She tried to give an annoyed look, but inwardly she was grinning. It would be the perfect excuse for her to not go on stage tonight. She closed the door and heard the man walking off. She then folded her map and placed it on a table. She then exited the room and headed back stage to where the Children's Show Choir was already practicing. Mia entered the room and heard the Children's Show Choir singing a jazz song and watched them sway to the music and snap their fingers. The girls were dressed in similar dresses to the one she wore only they were of different colors. The boys were wearing tuxedos. She scanned the crowd for Ash, but she could not see him. Chances were that Ash was probably in among the singers singing, but she did not search hard for him. The choir director, a thirty year-old woman named Sally Marshall, who had brown hair and green eyes, noticed Mia and with a wave of her hand, she had the children stop singing. "Well," Sally said, turning to face Mia, "you finally showed up. We were wondering whether or not you would come. Before you get into position, tell me where your brother is," she commanded in a dark tone.

"I don't know Miss Marshall. I thought that he was here with you," Mia answered, surprised that Ash was not present with the choir.

Sally did not believe her. "Well, he'd better get here soon or he'll be punished. Get into position," Sally commanded harshly. Sally knew that Mia abhorred singing, and could not care less about how she felt.

Mia got into her position in the front row. Sally then raised her baton as the piano player was ready to play a song. "We're going to sing the song 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'."

Mia almost groaned. She hated this song. The piano started playing and the children began to sing, and dance. That is, all except Mia. She stood dead still and was completely silent. Her scowl, however, was replaced by an expression of curiosity. She listened intently to the song but she did not hear the jazzy song in the forefront. Instead the song that the choir was practicing was just a background to a different song. Ash heard the new song as well and scanned the surroundings intently, trying to find out where the voice was coming from. He could not make out the words, but it sounded like it was being sung in a different language. Not only that, but the language did not sound like any human language that he ever heard of.

Mia must have heard something, for she immediately gasped and tried to take a step back, only to trip on the step behind her. She frantically tried to regain her balance, waving her arms and stumbling on her step, trying not to fall. The children behind her tried to step to one side to avoid her, but in the end, they merely tripped over each other and fell. After a few seconds of flailing her arms about, Mia finally regained her balance and composure. "What the heck was that?" Mia said aloud, distantly.

"Us, singing 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine,'" one of the children responded indignantly. "Something that you should have been participating in. Instead, you seem to be moving to your own beat."

"No," Mia interrupted, "I mean what was that song I was hearing you sing over 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'? I couldn't make out the words, but I know that it wasn't what you were singing. It sounded, alien."

"I don't know what you heard, but it wasn't that. Now stop stalling and start singing and dancing or you'll get in trouble."

Mia had had enough. "I'm sorry," she began, "but I have to go somewhere. I'll search for my brother while I'm at it. Don't worry, I'll be back before the curtain rises."

"Yeah, you do that," Sally told Mia harshly, a little too harshly for Ash's liking. He could tell that there was something else going on here. "Just get back here quickly. We're on in fifteen minutes."

Mia then exited the room. Ash was about to follow her when he looked back at Sally, who was whispering into a microphone that was in the collar of her shirt. He couldn't make out what she was saying, but he thought it was pretty suspicious. He also noticed that the other children were looking towards the door with suspicion, and some of them even seemed a little worried. Ash then exited the room to follow Mia.

Ash ran up the stairs after his sister. Even though he was simply in a memory observing what was happening, he still felt tired climbing the steps. He eventually caught up with his sister, who was nearing the door to a corridor. She looked right and left, and up and down the stairs. She then opened the door and quickly bolted through and slammed it closed. Ash then went through the door and followed his sister.

On the other side of the door, Ash found a large crowd of people. They were in line for entering the stands. Ash searched among the hordes of people for his sister. He moved his way through the crowd in his attempt to find her but could not find her. He had the feeling that his sister was hoping that the crowd would shield her from anyone who was searching for her. Eventually he spotted her. She was cautiously moving her way through a rather large group of people towards a stairwell. Ash saw her mouth something. He couldn't read her lips, though. Just then, over the loud speakers, a female voice boomed, "Attention, the Orbital Children's Show Choir, led by Sally Marshall will now be performing along with a special guest appearance of the Rockets' Show Choir. All parties return to your seats at once." The way the voice spoke, though, made it sound more like an order than a final call for the audience to get to their seats.

Ash saw the crowds running towards the stadium stands. Mia, not wanting to seem conspicuous trying to leave, followed the crowd of people towards the stands. She followed the last group of people to the auditorium's seats. Soon, the lights around the audience went out, with a new set of lights instantly coming to life, shining down upon the two show choirs, the children's and the Rockets'. The Rockets' Show Choir was made up of youths thirteen and above, and some young adults. The boys and men wore tuxedos while the girls and women wore sleeveless shimmering dresses of various colors. Some of the dresses' skirts were quite short. Ash noticed Mia search the Children's Show Choir for any sign of her brother. He soon spotted his mother searching for her children as the others were making their way out on stage. "Oh, come on you two. Don't tell me you got stage fright," Delia said quietly. "Mia I can understand, but Ash?" She then looked around as if noticing something out of place and said, "Come to think of it, where's your father? He should have been here by now."

Ash noticed that his father was not at the concert. He then turned back towards Mia, who was peering from behind the doorway. Ash looked into the audience and noticed that a large number of people in the audience were focusing on the Orbital Children's Show Choir. He began to wonder if they were searching for his younger self and Mia, too. He went towards the exit, but turned back when the show choirs began to sing and clap. He studied them intently. He tried to listen with his soul to see if he could hear the same song he heard in the assembly room. He did not hear the song, though. He then departed the main concert hall and went to follow his sister.

Upon exiting the hall, he saw Mia walking towards a stairwell. A member of the concert hall's security team noticed her and approached her. Apparently he recognized her when he said, "Excuse me Miss Ketchum, but you're supposed to be on stage."

Mia froze and turned towards the man, who was approaching her with one hand behind inside his coat, something that made Ash go on alert. Mia backed away towards the stairwell as the man approached. "If you would come with me, I will direct you towards the stage. Don't worry, we found your brother as well and are taking him to the stage, too. Please come with me."

Mia's face went ashen at the mention of her brother. She saw that even if she escaped, Ash would still be in the grasp of these "security" people. Mia bowed before the man. "Very well," she said in a submissive voice. "Take me to Ash so we may go on stage. We may still make it for our song."

The security guard then took hold of Mia and led her down the flight of stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, she saw Ash who was being held by another member of security. The two men saluted each other and the one holding Ash said, "Well done, Agent Double-Oh-Eight. With the girl, we now have the complete set. Let's get them outta here before their parents realize that somethin's up."

"Yes, Agent Double-Oh-Three, sir," Agent 008 responded.

"Agent?" Mia questioned. She then saw something beneath their normal security uniforms. They were wearing dark gray undershirts with a small red arch that looked like it was part of a larger symbol. Ash recognized the symbol as being that of Team Rocket, something that his sister's younger self also managed to catch. "You're members of Team Rocket," Mia said pointing an accusing finger at the two men.

The two men laughed. "We sure are, cutie," Agent 003 said, not bothering to hide their true allegiance. "And you're gonna be the key to our takin' over the Pokémon League and later, the whole world."

"Never," Ash and Mia countered defiantly.

"Never say never, kids," the two retorted in warning

The two men then leered at the girl. Mia glared back at them, showing that she was without fear. The two Rockets laughed at her attempt to seem fearless.

Mia then sulked as the men led her and Ash towards the stage. "Why are we going on stage?" Mia asked.

"You ask too many questions," Agent 008 responded. The Agent 003 held up his hand and silenced the other agent. 003 then turned to her and responded, "You must put on a show for our adoring audience. Besides the choir members want to hear you sing your song. They'd be mad if you just abandoned them. Consider it practice for what you will do after you accomplish your mission for us. That is, if we let you two live."

The group neared the door to the stage. The Rockets noticed that Ash had been silent and had begun to study him intently. Ash then glanced towards Mia. Mia noticed his gaze and grinned. The two Rockets saw the children grinning and turned the kids towards them and yelled, "What are you kids doin'?"

Then, with an inhuman precision and speed, the two children kicked their captors in the shins as hard as possible. The Rockets howled in pain and let go of the children to hold their knees. The Rocket was quick to respond. He grabbed his stun gun and tried to stun Ash. However, he did not notice Mia sneak up behind him. She hit the Rocket at the base of the skull as hard as she could with both fists. The Rocket fell to the floor stunned, and he dropped his stun gun in the process. Mia then picked up the stun gun. "Let's get out of here," Ash told her.

"Wait," she said. She knelt down next to the Rocket and smiled sadistically. She flicked the switch on and she saw a small arc of electricity. She grabbed the Rocket's head and, smiling sadistically, touched the stun gun to the Rocket's head. Electricity arced across the Rocket's body and the Rocket cried out in agony. After a few seconds, Mia withdrew the weapon from the Rocket's skin and she went over and electrocuted the other Rocket into unconsciousness. Mia then turned off the weapon and looked at her handiwork. "Mom was right," she mused with a frightening smile. "This concert _is_ turning out to be fun."

"Let's go Mia. There'll be more guards coming after us," Ash's younger self warned Mia. Mia hesitated for a moment, and then joined her brother. The two then ran away from the scene and towards the stairwell. As Ash watched the vision, he found it hard to believe that Mia had seemed to almost enjoy stunning the Rockets. It was probably because she had a lot of pent up anger and she could finally unleash it against an evil enemy.

The two children climbed the stairs, moving as quickly as possible. They neared the ground floor and saw a door leading to the corridor of the concert hall. Ash opened the door and quickly retreated when he saw a man in a red uniform walking by. He managed to catch a glimpse of the red "R" on the man's uniform. He closed the door quietly and whispered to Mia, "That man's part of Team Rocket."

"Huh," Mia asked in surprise. "More Rockets? I could understand a couple secret agents, but having members flaunt their allegiance to Team Rocket, isn't that kinda suicidal?"

Ever since Team Rocket had been reorganized as a criminal organization, the police forces of Earth had been ruthlessly cracking down on it. Many members were sent to prison for life terms, and those who had murdered or even attempted to murder humans and/or Pokémon were often executed. Ash then remembered his encounter with the two secret Rocket Agents. It then struck him. He turned to Mia and said, "Mia, this whole concert was nothing more than an elaborate trap."

"Who do they intend to trap?" Mia asked, fearing that she already knew the answer.

"Us."

"But why?"

"Because we are important to them for some reason."

When the kids were sure that the Rocket had rounded the corner, they stepped through the door. They then went the opposite direction that the Rocket had gone. They looked down the corridor, which did not extend all that far, and they saw several seemingly vacant offices. At the end of the corridor, there was a set of brown double doors. They approached the doors and pushed them open. Immediately they found themselves looking out into a hallway. The ceiling was much higher than they the ceiling in the other corridor. It the walls were also made of brick and they were adorned with various types of paintings. Only twenty or so feet in front of them, was an exit. Ash began to run towards the exit when Mia grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "What was that for?" Ash asked in a whisper. Mia grinned as she motioned around her. To their right and left were several item holders. In one of the item holders, Mia and Ash saw three Poké Balls. Mia quickly grabbed the three Poké Balls. She kept two of them while she gave the third to Ash. Ash reluctantly took the Poké Ball and then whispered, "But Mia, this is stealing."

Mia gave an unsympathetic look to Ash. "Yeah, so? This concert was merely a means of capturing us. You said that yourself. That means that the people attending the concert may well be in league with Team Rocket. That means that it is probable that these Poké Balls belong to a member of Team Rocket. We're simply liberating them from their bondage under Team Rocket."

Mia's logic seemed impeccable to Ash, but he was still unconvinced. She seemed to be enjoying this escape scenario way too much. The children then walked into the hallway towards the exit. "Halt," a deep male voice commanded. "Stay where you are!"

Ash and Mia froze as they turned around. Directly in front of them were two members of Team Rocket. One was a male, the other a female. They wore the standard Team Rocket uniforms. The male had red hair and stood at about six feet tall. The woman stood at five foot five, and had green hair. Both of them had silver guns trained on the children. These guns had a lightning bolt arcing between two rods in the center. The Rockets smiled as the children turned around and revealed their faces. "Well, well Shania," the male Rocket said grinning. "It looks like we hit the jackpot."

"It certainly does," Shania, the female Rocket replied.

The two began to walk slowly towards the children. "Don't move a muscle kids or we just might have to hurt you," the male Rocket said, leering at Mia. Mia simply grinned and threw one of her Poké Ball in the air. "Poké Ball, go!" she cried as the ball opened. A blue blob of energy emerged from the ball and hit the ground where it formed into a blue creature that strongly resembled a turtle. It stood on two legs, the back of its shell was brown while the front of it was tan. The Pokémon spread out its arms and cried, "Squirtle!" Mia grinned confidently. Ash then threw his Poké Ball into the air and cried, "Poké Ball, go!" A white light came out of the Poké Ball, hit the ground, and formed into an orange bi-pedal lizard like creature. A flame was lit on the back of its tail. It cried, "Charmander!" upon taking form. Ash was wide-eyed. He had always wanted Charmander to be his started when he went on his journey just as his father's starting Pokémon had been a Charmander. The Rockets grinned and said, "You think that those Pokémon'll scare us? You must be dreaming."

Mia smiled as the Rockets leveled their lightning guns towards the Pokémon and trained both of them on Squirtle. Mia noticed that the Rockets' grip on the lightning gun was beginning to tighten. The Rockets were grinning sadistically as they said, "Now you die you worthless Pokémon."

"Squirtle, Mirror Coat!" Mia yelled as the Rockets pulled the triggers of their guns. Squirtle gave a cry and a red glow began to surround him. The beams of electricity that had been emitted from the lightning guns hit the Pokémon and Squirtle was thrown back. However, the beams did not cause much physical damage to Squirtle. Instead, the Mirror Coat managed to send the electrical beams back towards the Rockets. The beams of lightning struck the Rockets in the chest and burned large holes through the bodies. Smoke erupted from the holes in the Rockets' bodies as they collapsed to the ground, electricity arcing across their bodies. Mia then lifted Squirtle and congratulated it. Squirtle smiled at Mia. Mia then said, "Return," and she returned Squirtle to his Poké Ball.

Ash turned to Mia in amazement. "How'd you know Squirtle could do that?"

Mia smiled and replied with the stuffiness of a noble, "You should study more. I recognized these Pokémon as having been battle bred. Battle bred Pokémon are often stronger than normal Pokémon found in the wild and will often know moves that wild Pokémon don't naturally learn. Case and point: this Squirtle knowing Mirror Coat, a move that it can only learn through breeding." After giving her short Pokémon lesson to Ash, she said, "Let's get out of here. There's bound to be more Rockets coming after us."

Ash agreed. He then returned Charmander to its Poké Ball, and the twins made their way out of the concert hall. Upon exiting the hall, they found themselves staring towards a street. The street was unexpectedly abandoned. Chills ran down the spines of Ash and Mia. It seemed as if the police might have been in on this as well. Mia spotted a police car and two officers. The officers looked suspicious to the two children. The officers then spotted Ash and Mia and they yelled, "Halt!"

Ash and Mia, however, did not wish to find out whether the officers were Rockets or not. They quickly fled the scene. The officers quickly got into their hover car and started it. They then gave chase after the children.

Meanwhile, Ash and Mia had ducked into an alley not too far away. They saw the officers' car drive by. When they were certain that it was out of sight, they left the alley. There, they quickly saw a limousine appear and come to a stop not too far away. Fearing that the occupants of the limo might be enemies, they retreated back into the alley to examine the situation before taking any further action. The door to the limousine soon opened and the children saw a figure step out. He wore a yellow shirt beneath an orange red jacket. His pants also matched his shirt. Ash recognized him as the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni. Several Rockets, one of them a girl as young as thirteen with blonde hair, emerged from the vehicle and Giovanni told them, "Search the concert hall. I'll tell the performers the situation. Just find me those children! They're the best candidates for our project."

The Rockets replied, "Yes sir." With that, they headed towards the concert hall. Giovanni then approached the hall as well. Giovanni entered the hall. Seeing that the Rockets and Giovanni had gone to search closer to the concert hall, Ash's younger self and Mia then emerged from the alley and ran away from the concert hall, and towards a tour bus that conveniently appeared. They waved towards the bus, trying to make it stop. The bus stopped a few yards away. They ran towards the bus and neared the door, which was opening. The driver, an elderly man in his sixties, looked down at the two children and asked, "Where to kids?"

"Pallet Town," Ash and Mia replied.

"That'll be six dollars," the driver responded. Mia handed him a ten-dollar bill and said, "Keep the change." The driver looked at the children and said, "Next stop, Pallet Town."

The image then shifted to the auditorium, where the Orbital Children's Show Choir and the Rockets' Show Choir were performing a rock and roll song. Ash noticed that the audience was dancing and clapping along with the performers. He scanned for his mother. He found her sitting alone in the audience next to two people that he did not recognize. He noticed his mother had been scowling at first. Ash then heard Delia's thoughts. _How could they do this? Don't they know their music grade is dependant on this concert_? When the next song started, however, Delia forgot about Ash and Mia's absence and began to dance along with the rest of the audience. After the song ended, the audience cheered and Sally Marshall, the Orbital Children's Show Choir, approached the microphone. She said, "We're sorry, but there has been an incident that requires my attention as well as several members of the Rockets' Show Choir. We hope to resume the performance in a while. Until then, we will be taking an early intermission. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

Some members of the audience looked at one another in bewilderment, others gave a groan of dissatisfaction, while others calmly got up out of their chairs and exited the auditorium to the rear. Ash soon noticed that a man in a suit and sunglasses was approaching his mother. Ash neared him to hear what he was telling them. He missed the first part, but he did not miss his mother's reaction. "What?" Delia said in open disbelief. "They ran away from the concert hall!"

"Yes Mrs. Ketchum. One of our officers spotted the children running away. We were under orders to bring them back here, but they managed to elude us. We need to know if you have any idea where they might have gone."

"I know of one place where they might be going," Delia said.

"Can you tell us?" the man asked politely.

"Don't do it Mom," Ash blurted, even though he was speaking to a memory and knew that his mother could not hear him.

Ash never found out what had happened, for the image shifted once again. This time, the familiar sight a bus stop near his house filled his field of vision. It didn't really matter, though. He had a pretty good idea as to how things would end.

Ash watched as his younger self and Mia got off the bus. They thanked the driver for the lift. They then turned and walked a few blocks towards their house. The streetlights over the road guided the children through the streets at the late hour. As they neared their house, they saw several suspicious looking men peering through the darkened windows. They were wearing black uniforms with black hats. The children guessed that the men were members of Team Rocket. Ash and Mia retreated a few paces so that they were out of the light. But it wasn't good enough. One of the men turned and looked directly at them. Young Ash saw the man go for his phone.

The two ran towards Professor Samuel Oak's lab, which was not too far away from their house, hoping to lose the Rockets among the gardens of Oak's wild Pokémon. Soon, they saw several men appear in front of them. Ash and Mia tried to change direction, but they ended up running into the arms of two strong Rockets. The Rockets were not wearing the standard Team Rocket uniform. These Rockets wore gray shirts. One wore a sleeveless gray shirt with an "R", wore sunglasses, and had blonde hair. This Rocket had the body of a body-builder. The other Rocket had a long sleeve gray shirt with an "R" and he had gray hair that was in a strange style and came down to his shoulders. This one was lanky and not nearly as strong as the other Rocket. Ash quickly noticed that the two Rockets were armed with what seemed to be pulse rifles and they had an Onix and a Scyther standing next to them. The lanky Rocket looked at the children and said, "Well, well. The children have walked right into our grasp. We knew that they'd be here thanks to the foolishness of their mother." The Rocket then said to the muscular one, "Hun, take these children to the boss. The rest of you, make sure that there's no trouble on the transfer."

"Yes sir," Hun responded. Hun then shoved Ash and Mia towards a limousine that was across the street. Ash and Mia resisted. "Get moving," he said, shoving the barrel of the rifle into Mia's back.

"Quit shoving or I'll make you eat that rifle," Mia retorted.

Attila laughed. "Don't be a fool girl. You're both more valuable to us alive."

He shoved her again. They were near the car when the Rocket with the gray hair glared at the children. "Get in the car," he ordered.

Young Ash and Mia saw something out of the corner of their eyes. Ash also saw something coming towards the car. "No," Ash and Mia responded.

"Why not?" the Rocket asked.

Mia then grinned sadistically. "Because your limo's about to explode." With that, she kicked Hun in the knees. He cried out in pain and he loosened his grip on them enough for them to break free. They quickly made a mad dash across the street as a Blast Burn attack rocketed towards the limousine. The blast of flame hit the car and almost instantaneously melted through the metal. The occupants of the limousine were instantly incinerated. Attila and Hun quickly ran away from the limousine just before it exploded. Ash and Mia dove to the ground as the vehicle exploded. The force of the explosion knocked Attila, Hun, and their Pokémon to the ground. The children shielded their faces with their hands to avoid getting hit by superheated shrapnel that was being strewn about them.

Eventually, the children looked up and saw several Rockets release their Pokémon, mostly Raticates, Koffings, Weezings, and Arboks, only to watch them get taken down by another Blast Burn attack. Attila and Hun's Scyther and Onix were lifted into the air by an unknown force and sent flying into a wall. They then fell to the ground unconscious. The Rockets then drew several projectile guns, which earned them a quick death by means of several blue lightning blasts. The Rockets fell to the ground one after the other with smoking holes in their chests. Attila and Hun quickly got up near Ash and Mia and attempted to make a grab at the children when a low, menacing voice said, "Move and you're dead."

The two Rockets turned and saw a man standing before them accompanied by a Charizard, and a large cat-like Pokémon with two large whiskers, silver fur, and a red jewel in the middle of its head, Espeon. The jewel pulsated as if it was about to launch an energy attack. The man was pointing a lightning gun at them, electricity still arcing between the two forward prongs. The men didn't doubt that the gun was set to kill, glancing behind the man to see several dead Rockets behind him. They then looked at the Espeon and Charizard behind the man and found that discretion was the better part of valor. The Rockets slowly backed away, and then turned tail and ran from the man as fast as humanly possible.

The man congratulated his Pokémon and returned them to their Poké Balls. He then turned to the kids and they recoiled a bit in fear. They could see the shadowy figure coming towards them. Ash and Mia didn't know what to make of the man. Was he a friend, or merely a competitor of Team Rocket's in kidnapping them? Their questions were soon answered when the man stepped into the light. The man was dressed in a black long sleeve polo shirt, black jeans, and had black hair. The children immediately recognized the man as their father. "Daddy," Mia cried in delight. She jumped to her feet, rushed her father and threw her arms around him. Her father returned the hug and gave the kids an affectionate smile. Young Ash merely strolled up to his father and saluted him. "Thanks for the save, Dad," the young child said.

"I'm just glad that I came here before going to the concert," he told them, still smiling. "And thinking that the concert started later than it did," he added almost sheepishly. "I had a feeling that something wasn't right about the concert." He then glanced down at Mia, smiling. "And I knew that you wouldn't be caught dead singing if there was any way you could avoid it," he added with a smile. He then noticed the Poké Balls that were clipped to Mia and Ash's belts. "It seems as if you've had your fair share of adventures tonight, too," he noted, pointing to their Poké Balls. Mia grabbed them and handed them to him. "I know you would have liked your first taste of being Pokémon Trainers to have come under better circumstances, and you probably want to become Trainers now, but we have to take these Poké Balls to Professor Oak."

Ash and Mia offered no protest. The man then went and crossed the street and headed towards Oak's lab, with his two children following them. They were almost at the lab when a car came driving up to them, the car's headlights illuminating the three and everything around them. Ash and Mia's father stepped out in front of his children and said, "Stay behind me. I don't like the looks of this." He then pulled out his lightning gun, and unclipped one of his Poké Balls. The car then stopped and the headlights shut off. Upon seeing his wife, Ash's father lowered the lightning gun and clipped the Poké Ball back to his belt. His wife ran to him and embraced him. "I wasn't expecting you to be here John," she said. "I wondered why you weren't at the concert. Fortunately, or unfortunately," she amended, "you didn't miss anything."

"I know," he said in a reassuring voice. "Actually, I found the very thing I was looking for." He motioned towards his children. Ash and Mia stepped out from behind him and stared at their mother. Delia ran to each of them and hugged them. Ash looked sheepishly at her, expecting to be disciplined for running out of the concert. When Delia arrived to Mia, however, Mia barely met her gaze. She scowled as her mother hugged her and made sure she was okay. Delia then stepped back and that was when the tirade began, "Okay kids, start talking! What possessed you to run away from the concert hall and scare us half to death? Walking the streets in the dead of the night isn't safe!"

"It's safer than staying in a place where everyone's gunning for you!" Mia responded indignantly.

"Mom, the concert was a trap," Ash calmly told her. "We encountered several Team Rocket thugs and they tried to kidnap us. They knew who we were, what we looked like, and where to find us. We were targeted specifically. I also have reason to believe that several members of the Rockets' Show Choir, if not all of them, are in fact members of Team Rocket."

"Don't be ridiculous," Delia laughed. "There were no Rockets in the concert hall. Now stop making excuses and get back to the concert. They'll be starting the grand finale soon, and there's still a chance that you can perform in it."

"Actually you're wrong," a voice responded from behind the group. "Almost everyone that was performing at the concert was a Rocket."

The group turned and standing in front of them was a tall woman with dark purple hair and black eyes wearing a red long sleeved shirt, a black miniskirt and long black stockings, four Team Rocket Executives, and six Grunts, each of who had their Pokémon out. The woman looked as if she were the commander of the group, for she did not wear any special Team Rocket uniform. The group already had their Pokémon deployed for fighting. Their Pokémon consisted of the usual Koffing and Weezing, as well as a few Kadabras, a Mr. Mime, and an Alakazam. Despite their Pokémon not being all that powerful, relatively speaking, each Grunt had six Pokémon, as did the Commander and the Executives, meaning that they greatly outnumbered any team that John would have been able to field against them. "You will hand over the children to us now. They have a bright future in Team Rocket!"

"I'd rather die!" Mia cried, eager to fight despite her gross disadvantage against them.

"Get behind me, you two," John cried. "I'll handle this." Gripping all of his Poké Balls, he unclipped them from his belt and tossed them into the air, crying, "Everyone come on out! We need you!"

The Poké Balls were propelled into the air and at the apex of their ascent, they opened, releasing a Charizard, Espeon, an Umbreon, a black Pokémon that strongly resembled Espeon, only with black fur with yellow rings; Golem, Raichu, and the blue sea serpent-like Gyarados. John's Pokémon were the first to attack, wiping out the front ranks of Team Rocket's forces with a devastating volley of attacks. Several of the Koffings were incinerated by Charizard's Flamethrower, while the others were either tossed aside by Espeon and Umbreon's Psychic attacks, or flung away when hit by Gyarados's Aqua Tail. Raichu dealt with a Kadabra, managing to take it down with a single Thunderbolt.

The woman and the others recoiled as they witnessed their first line of Pokémon fall to the ground, unconscious at best. The remaining Pokémon, despite outnumbering John's forces, took a few steps back before being spurred by the Rockets, "Attack you fools! There are still only six of them!"

John added his own power to the mix when he pulled out his lightning gun and fired a single burst of lightning, taking down a Weezing, igniting the gases inside and causing it to explode, which took out two more Koffings and another Kadabra. Another volley of attacks took down more Rocket Pokémon, as well as killing two of the Rocket Grunts. The Commander soon pulled out a strange looking gun by Young Ash's recollection, but one that the dreaming Ash knew was the same type of Ray Gun currently used by Team Rocket, and took aim towards his father. John was faster on the draw, though, and a single burst of lightning emerged from his gun, striking the Commander in the chest and burning a hole through her abdomen, electricity arcing across her body. The now dead Rocket Commander fell over backwards, her finger reflexively pulling the trigger of the Ray Gun, sending a green energy blast wide of her target. The Executives and Grunts all retreated a few steps, stunned expressions on their faces. Ash began to wonder if the woman that his father had just killed was more than just a mere Rocket Commander.

"It's no good," one of the Grunts, cried to the Executives worriedly. "He's just too strong! We need support or we'll never get the children!"

Just then an aircraft that looked like a cross between a helicopter and an airplane, for it had two jet engine-like rotors on either side of the hull of the craft descended onto the scene.

"Delia, get the kids out of here!" John cried. He turned to Espeon and Umbreon and commanded, "You two make sure that nothing happens to them."

The Pokémon nodded and they went over to Delia and the children. Just as she was about to run, though, she was frozen in her tracks, a blue energy field surrounding her. Looking up at the aircraft, Ash saw Giovanni grinning, along with an Alakazam. The Alakazam would not be free to control Delia for long, though, as Raichu quickly sent a Thunderbolt its way. The bolt of lightning struck Alakazam in the center of mass and electricity arced across its body. The Pokémon then fell forward, paralyzed, and out of the helicopter and down to the pavement where it crashed with a sickening crunch of bones. Before falling, though, Alakazam had tossed Delia away and she flew through the air, hitting the ground hard and rolling until she came to a stop, dazed but still conscious. As she slowly rose, she dialed the police and informed them of the situation.

The aircraft promptly ascended and turned to face Raichu in order to keep Raichu or any of the other Pokémon from being able to target Giovanni specifically. Ash then heard Giovanni cry, "Use a grapple field on them! We have to get those children. They're perfect for the Trainer Program!"

"Yes sir," the aircraft pilot responded.

Dreaming Ash did not know how he managed to hear the short exchange between Giovanni and the aircraft pilot since he believed this to be a memory rather than a simple dream, but he did and he watched as the scene unfolded before him.

A radar dish-like device extended from the nose of the craft and swiveled around until it targeted the two children. A beam of electricity then extended from the device, slower than a lightning bolt or a laser, targeting Ash. Mia, seeing that her brother was the target, rushed over and pushed him out of the beam's path and let it collide with her. As soon as the beam hit her, it split into many different smaller beams, surrounding her and gouging into the ground. The new prison soon rose from the ground and was pulled towards the craft.

Young Ash, seeing this, ran towards the craft, crying, "Mia!"

His cry was echoed by his mother. As the two ran towards the craft, though, the Alakazam that had come with the other Rockets glanced over to the mother and son, its eyes glowing. They froze in their tracks and a Drowzee then came over, its own eyes glowing as it used Psychic to disable Ash and Delia and erase their minds. Before the process could be completed, though, a beam of black and purple circles scored a direct hit on Drowzee, knocking it unconscious with a single hit. Another Dark Pulse then lashed out at the Alakazam, forcing it to teleport away from the attack, breaking its contact with Ash and Delia. Once contact had been broken, the two stumbled forward, catching themselves and they looked around, wondering what was going on, still trying to get their bearings.

As Mia was being taken to the aircraft, though, Raichu launched a Thunderbolt at the aircraft, scoring a direct hit. Unfortunately, though, it was protected against lightning strikes and was able to absorb the hit without taking any damage. However, Giovanni knew that it was time to leave and he called to the pilot, "Pilot, get us out of here! We'll have to make do with the girl. She may, in fact, be a better choice than the boy," he muttered to himself.

As soon as Mia had been taken onboard the craft, the hatch closed and the aircraft ascended. John looked up at the craft and then back at Delia, torn between whether to stay with his wife and remaining son, or to go after his kidnapped daughter. The Rockets, hearing the police sirens coming, decided that it was time to retreat and one of the Executives cried, "Rockets, retreat!" Just then, the Rockets all disappeared from sight.

John, meanwhile, seeing the aircraft ascend and begin to move away from them, turned to his wife and called, "Delia, you take care of Ash and tell the police everything that happened. I'm going to follow Giovanni and get Mia back!"

Delia nodded absently and told him in an unsteady voice, "Be careful." To Ash, though, it seemed as if something was wrong with her voice. He began to wonder what was happening.

He soon saw John tell Gyarados and Golem, "You two stay with Delia and Ash. Protect them at all costs!"

Both Pokémon nodded and they went over to Delia and Ash. Ash then saw his father return the other Pokémon to their Poké Balls and get on Charizard's back. Once he had mounted the dragon, he rose into the air and took off after the aircraft. After that, the world went white once more.

When the world reappeared, Ash found himself looking at his home in Pallet Town. It was a sunny spring day. His mother was standing on the front porch along with another man as Ash's younger gazed out the window of his bedroom on the second floor of the house. Neither Delia nor the man noticed, but Ash was able to hear them on the porch below. The man with his mother was wearing a white polo shirt with khaki pants. There was also a car parked close to the house that did not belong to his mother. He figured that it was the man's. Standing close to the car was a Hypno. The presence of the Pokémon caused Ash to pay close attention to the scene that was about to unfold.

"So, how are you and Ash holdin' up?" the man asked in what at first appeared to be a kind voice, but Ash could tell that there was a note of falseness in it.

"We're doing fine," Delia answered. "It can be tough at times, but we're hanging in there."

The man approached Delia, smiling. He then gathered Delia's hands into his own and moved even closer, to the point where their faces were almost touching. Ash's mother stepped back a little uncomfortably as the man tried to kiss her on the lips. "What's wrong honey?"

Delia cast her gaze downward and sighed. "We can't do this Marcus. I have a son to think about."

"We can't do what?" Marcus retorted, a little too harshly he realized so he quickly followed up with, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

"We can't do _this_ ," Delia answered, motioning all around her. "We can't have this relationship at this point in my life. Ash is just too important to me. I don't want to set a bad example for him." Ash could not help but notice that a fleeting memory or image seemed to come to Delia's mind as she was speaking and that that may have been what was holding her back in her relationship with Marcus.

"But we haven't taken the final step yet," Marcus contested. "If you want me, you'll have to be willing to go all the way. I'm more than available tonight for that."

"I'm sorry Marcus, I can't do that," Delia replied, shaking her head sadly. "I won't take that final step until marriage."

"And look at what happened to your last marriage," Marcus retorted. "Delia, babe, you're beautiful, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And you're a good person to boot. I can't believe that that scum of a former husband, a husband who left you and Ash when he was only three, is holding you back!"

"He's not!" Delia hotly retorted. Ash could not tell if she meant her outburst in that her memory of her marriage to his father was holding her back, or that John had not left them, or if he had, he had not done so willingly. A part of him thought that it was both, but leaning more towards the latter. "As I said before, I don't want to set a bad example for Ash. I want to teach him the right way to do things and to be a good example to him. I can't do that if I have start having an affair with you. He's not stupid. He would get suspicious. But more importantly, _I_ would know. I won't be a hypocrite."

"You don't have to be such a prude about it," the man said hotly.

"There's nothing wrong about adhering to a code of ethics and morals," Delia countered forcefully, taking Marcus aback. She soon calmed down and looked at him not quite apologetically.

"Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?" Marcus asked, hoping that he would be able to convince Delia to continue the relationship.

Delia shook her head. After a moment, though, she gave a hopeful smile and offered, "Could you wait until we're married?"

"I'm sorry, Delia," he said, shaking his head. "We've been dating for six months. If you're not willing to go the final step by this time, then there's no way to know when, or if, you ever will. You have to choose. It's now or never. Do you choose me, or some outdated code of ethics and morals."

"Then I guess it's never," Delia responded in a sad but determined voice. "And waiting until marriage to have sex is not prudish or outdated."

Marcus then gave a shrug and walked away from the house. Ash noticed as he walked that his younger self had heard the entire exchange and was beaming. He then turned back to face Marcus, who was walking towards his car when he heard a ring. He got out a cell phone and spoke into it. Ash approached to see if he could hear what was being said, but it was hard to make out. He then heard Marcus say, "Delia's rejected me. It's gonna be hard to finish the memory wipe and the replacement of the false memories with her. I'd need a few more sessions with her for that."

He then heard the garbled response, but was certain that he could hear the words "doctor," "psychologist," and "boyfriend" in it. The tone also did not sound to be happy.

"I can't help it if the woman has a strong set of morals and actually adheres to them!" he blurted.

Another garbled message came and he then responded, "Fine, I'll do my best, but I'm not promising anything, here. And before you criticize me, sex was the best way to get her to lower her defenses so a full memory replacement could be performed without leaving any traces or suspicions. That would have allowed Hypno to get uninterrupted access to her mind for the replacement. Just don't blame me if she suddenly remembers her husband and daughter a year, two years, or ten years from now."

He abruptly hung up on the caller and went over to the Hypno. This was the first time Ash noticed the black shirt underneath his polo shirt. He unbuttoned the polo shirt and Ash saw a red arch that he was sure was a part of an R. This man was member of Team Rocket. Marcus went over to Hypno and told it, "Do it but be careful. Her mind's defenses may be up. Stealth will be key, here. Just make sure that the memories are the same for both so don't worry if you're only able to make the final adjustments to the memories about John and Mia. Whatever you do, though, don't leave any footprints. If Ash decides to become a Pokémon Trainer then he might undergo a telepathic scan, especially if he ends up facing Saffron City's new Gym Leader, Sabrina."

"Hypno," the Pokémon answered with a nod. Hypno's eyes then started to glow and the image switched once more.

Now Ash found himself in his bedroom, finishing up his last bit of homework. The door soon opened and his mother came in just as he had finished the last problem. She was smiling, but even his younger self could tell that there was sadness in the smile. "How's your homework coming honey?" she asked as she went over to the bed and sat down next to him.

"It's done," Young Ash replied, smiling.

Delia then looked over Ash's shoulder and checked on the homework, making sure that he got all of the answers correct. If he did not, she would make him do the problem over again until he came up with the correct answer. As it was, though, Ash's answers were correct and she smiled at him once more and gave him a hug. Young Ash quickly returned the hug and there they remained for several minutes. Dreaming Ash, however, quickly noticed a faint psychic energy glow surround the two as he went over to the window and noticed Hypno's eyes glow. He called out to them, "Watch out! Hypno's trying to invade your minds!"

He knew that they could not hear them. A ghostly image of Hypno then appeared and tried to invade Delia's body, as if it were trying to plant the false memories and remove the real ones, itself. He could see it plant the false memories easily enough, but when it seemed to go for the real ones, which were buried by piles and piles of false memories, a barrier appeared and the Hypno was unable to go any further. As such, it merely planted more false memories in the hope of being able to bury the real ones so far in the recesses of their minds that they would never come to the surface again. Ash gave a hard smile since he knew that Team Rocket's plan had failed and that there was an avenue for him and his mother to regain their memories of his father and Mia. Just as the Hypno faded out and Young Ash and his mother disengaged and went to talk about what would be for dinner, the world went white once more.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

While Ash was sleeping and regaining his memories, a Team Rocket helicopter had just landed just outside of the souvenir shop in Mahogany Town that was the entrance to Team Rocket's hideout in Mahogany Town and was extending its boarding ramp. The town was small and there were very few people in it. Despite this, it did have a Pokémon Gym, but the Gym Leader was currently asleep. It was night and while it was only nine o'clock, there were not all that many people out and about so no one noticed that the helicopter that was landing near the former ninja hideout before Team Rocket had taken it over belonged to Team Rocket. Even if they had, they likely would not have done anything about it, leaving it up to Pryce, the Mahogany Gym Leader, or someone else to deal with Team Rocket.

As soon as the ramp had extended, several Rocket Grunts walked down the ramp and stood by, waiting for the escort. After that, Butch and Cassidy walked down the ramp, pushing Mia along, her hands bound behind her back. Butch gave a sadistic grin as he shoved the girl forward, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground face first. He, Cassidy, and the Rocket Grunts on the ground and following them all laughed as Mia fell. One of them then kicked Mia hard in the ribs as she struggled to rise, causing her to cough as the air was forced from her lungs. She turned and stared at them blankly, as if trying to be intimidating, but being unable to do so due to her lack of willpower and memory. This prompted one of the guards to quip, "Save it, little girl. No one here's gonna hear you scream when you die. And even if they did, they wouldn't do a thing about it."

Mia gave no response as only a single word entered her mind, _Flight_! She fingered a jagged rock that had been lying on the ground, closing her hand to make sure that no one noticed it. It would be perfect for helping her fray the rope that bound her hands. Or if all else failed, using it as a bludgeoning weapon against her attackers.

Butch and Cassidy then grabbed her to her feet and shoved her along, causing her to stumble but she regained her footing, prompting a groan from the onlooking Rocket Grunts. The two soon caught up to the girl and they pushed her forward, each of them gripping her arms. Several of the Grunts gave perverted leers and grinned with two more pushing her along. The Rockets that were pushing her along and giving her hoots and hollers did not notice that despite the fact that her mind had been wiped and she seemed to have lost her willpower, she was still analyzing the situation as she was forced into the small souvenir shop.

The interior of the shop looked just like any other shop. It had walls lined with crates, containers, and glass cases that contained various merchandise. An overweight old man that was balding with only some small signs of gray hair was sitting behind the counter, which had an old-fashioned cash register sitting on top of it. He was wearing what looked like a dress shirt and khaki pants. "Hey gramps, open the passage for us," Butch commanded haughtily.

"Sure thing, Butch was it?"

"No!" Butch cried. "Why doesn't anyone ever get it right? It's Bitch, not Bu…oh okay, it's Butch!" he cried, realizing that he had just made himself the laughingstock of everyone present. As such, all of the Rockets, and even Mia, who did not lack emotions, laughed at his mistake. She was tempted to pile on as the various Rockets then asked, "So, is it Bitch, or Butch? Or is it Botch?" The group laughed as they mocked him.

"Shut up!" he cried at the top of his lungs.

Cassidy merely shrugged as she grabbed hold of Mia while the other Rockets, even the old man behind the cash register, made fun of Butch's profane mutilation of his own name.

"I've gotta change my name the first chance I get," Butch muttered as he rose and went over to Mia and helped Cassidy contain the girl. "Hey old man," he bellowed. "Open the passage. We haven't got all day! The boss wants this girl dead as soon as possible!"

"Why not just kill her here?" the man queried. He then looked at Mia and a perverted grin crossed his face. "What a waste of beauty," he said mock wistfully. "We could even have a little fun."

"Because we don't want anyone in town to hear her cries!" Cassidy answered.

"Besides, we've got our own plans for the girl as she dies," one of the Grunts added.

"And what plans might those be?" the man asked.

"Take a wild guess," one of the Grunts said, eying Mia in a perverted fashion.

"Oooh," the old man cooed, his eyes flashing with comprehension and showing the same perverted desires as the Grunt. "Just so you know, senior's first," he quipped.

The Grunt looked cock-eyed at the old man. The Rockets did not notice Mia hunker down and charge towards one of the guards close to the exit. Despite having no memories, it seemed as if Azelf had not fully drained the girl of her willpower. She then rushed towards him at full speed and barreled into him, hitting him squarely in the chest. The impact forced the man to exhale as he was sent reeling backwards and he hit the floor. Mia quickly got back up and continued her charge towards the door but was intercepted by Butch, who drove his shoulder into her abdomen, knocking her to the ground. He then jumped on top of her and pinned her to the ground, gripping her shoulders tightly. "Looks like your escape attempt failed, girl," he mocked as he went to punch her in the chest.

Mia thrust her leg upwards and caught Butch in the groin before he could hit her again, causing his eyes to go wide with pain. He collapsed onto the floor as she rolled over and tried to rise, but was quickly pinned by two more Grunts and Cassidy.

As the fighting was going on, the door to the basement of the hideout retracted and a man came up the stairs wearing a white shirt with a red R on a black pocket over his left breast over a black undershirt. His pants matched the shirt. The man had short teal hair and teal eyes. "What's going on here?" he called as he came into the small shop.

"Nothing, Archer, sir," came the response from one of the Grunts.

"What do you mean, 'nothing'?" Butch roared, a little higher-pitched than he would have wanted. "That girl just kicked me in the balls!"

"And we have her subdued once more," came another Grunt, who hauled Mia up in front of Archer, the second in command of Team Rocket.

"And what were Giovanni's orders in dealing with her?"

"To kill her," the Grunt answered. "After we questioned her and got all of the information we could out of her."

"On what?"

"Umm, various things," the Grunt answered. "He wasn't all that specific."

"Then get on with it!" Archer commanded. "Leaf's too skilled and resourceful to keep alive for any extended period of time! She has, after all, escaped us once before."

"But we don't wanna kill her here," Butch told him. "Someone might be able to hear the scream and besides, the cleanup would make others suspicious. Besides, some of the men have…other plans for her." Even Butch, who hated Mia's guts and had no sympathy for her, could not keep the disgust out of his voice.

Archer suppressed a disgusted glance as he focused his attention on Mia, noticing that her hands were bound and the expression on her face was still blank. He figured that she must have tried to flee due to some instinctual imperative or fear. "Fine," he conceded, seeing the wisdom in not risking anyone hearing Mia scream should the death take longer than anticipated. "Just make sure you deal with her quickly. We don't want to give her any real chance to escape."

"Understood, sir," the Rockets replied, nodding, as they proceeded to take her into the hideout. The old man who worked in the store followed the Grunts and Archer, eyeing Mia as the walked towards what they intended to be her grave. Archer looked back at them and shook his head in disgust. He had known that the common thugs that were now Rocket Grunts were the dregs of society, but he had not expected people like Butch and Cassidy to take such perverse pleasure in killing Mia. For him, it was simply business. He could also understand Giovanni's hatred of Mia since she had inflicted so much damage to Team Rocket. He felt the same way about the former Johto League Champion Ethan. Once they had taken Mia into the hideout, he went up to make sure that there were no onlookers that would have to be dealt with. When he saw no one outside, he retreated back into the store, moving the crate back to its normal position, hiding the button that gave access to the hideout. Once that was finished, he went down the steps and arrived on the first basement floor of the hideout. Pushing one final button, the steps retracted and the ceiling closed, leaving no evidence in the store above as to Team Rocket's presence underneath the building, and in the town, for that matter.

As the Grunts, Butch, and Cassidy took Mia into the base, they took great pains to parade her around the base. Each of the Rocket Grunts and officers that were on duty took one look at her and hurled a variety of insults her way, some of them profanity laden. Mia was unable to tune out their mocking as she was paraded by. But instead of breaking her and causing her to cry, it only fueled her anger and hatred. As such, she was able to study the layout of the base as they paraded her by. It looked much like an office floor, which was different from how Ethan had described it in one of his depositions to the Pokémon League after he had become the Johto League Champion and the League had gone on to deal with the rest of Team Rocket, or so everyone had thought. Many of the workers did not appear to be armed like the Rockets that had been escorting her were. However, several of them did have Poké Balls clipped to their belts, indicating that they did have some form of defense should she encounter any of them in an escape attempt. As they continued to hurl insults and profanities her way, she glared at them, making it look like they were getting to her, which some of them were beginning to. She just made certain to take note in her mind who was being the most insulting, so that when she escaped, if he or she survived, that they would be the ones who were humiliated at the end.

Eventually, the guards took her to a stairwell and they shoved her towards it. She stumbled, doing her best to maintain her balance as she stepped onto the stairs. "Wait you fools!" the old man cried. "We need her to still be alive when we vent on her!"

Seeing that he had a point, one of the Grunts grabbed her, keeping her from falling, and dragged her back. "Sorry babe, can't have you go gettin' yourself killed just yet, can we?"

Mia slumped over, feigning defeat. Inwardly, though, she was raging, but a dark smile also came to her lips. These were mere thugs, and their arrogance was unmatched. She could take advantage of this when she made her escape. As these thoughts came to mind, she did not know why they were coming to her so naturally, only that they were, that they would help her out of this situation, and that she actually liked them, as if this is what she was supposed to be: a fighter.

She continued to offer little real resistance as they pushed her down the steps. Once they arrived on Basement Floor One of the base, they continued to parade her around. The few technicians that were working on various machines looked up from their stations or consoles and leered at her. These were mostly scientists that were dressed in lab coats and wore glasses. A few gave some catcalls. Mia looked towards the center of the room and noticed the generator in the center. Six conduits emerged from the top of the generator and supplied power to the entire base. Soon, the group came upon another stairwell and they pushed Mia towards the stairs, again, being careful not to let her fall to a premature death. They wanted to take their time in killing her.

Meanwhile, in another sector of the base, Archer, along with the other Team Rocket Executives, Ariana, a woman with a uniform similar to Archer's with red hair and red eyes; Proton, a man in a standard Team Rocket uniform with long white gloves, and with green hair and eyes; and finally, Petrel, a more mild-looking Rocket with purple hair almost cut to a mohawk and black eyes, were discussing the latest plan. Along with them were Dr. Zager, one of the lead Team Rocket scientists, second only to Gideon now that Professor Sebastian was dead, and several elite Grunts. "Is everything ready?" Archer asked Zager.

"It is," Zager answered, nodding. "I have the complete code on my datapad. We'll take the troops to secure the Goldenrod Radio Tower, and then upload the program. With luck, Team Rocket will soon own all Pokémon that are stored inside a PC Box or are transported to other chains. And with the Badge Amplifier, they should be completely subservient to us."

"Excellent," Archer replied. "Giovanni's going to love that. It will work on the Legendaries too, right?"

Zager nodded. "It'll work with _any_ Pokémon, regardless of power. Soon, we'll control all captured Pokémon in Japan. When do you want us to leave?"

"As soon as possible," Archer answered. "And find the best Rockets you can. I don't want to leave anything to chance. This mission is vital to the success of Team Rocket."

"Understood."

Zager then bowed and left to make the final preparations for the mission and to choose his team. As he left, Archer and the others began to discuss other matters, most notably, the losses that had been sustained at their Kanto Headquarters and the fact that while Giovanni was now in control of the Pokémon League, chances were that many of the country's Gym Leaders would reject his authority and revolt. Even if the plan to obtain the Pokémon of the country's Trainers succeeded, chances were that the Gym Leaders would get wise to the plan and possibly release their Pokémon before sending it to the computer. And there was also the issue of wild Pokémon. There was still work to be done, even if everything went according to plan.

Back in Basement Floor Three of the hideout, Mia was shoved forward by Butch and the others. They took their time finding a secluded room on the lowest level of the base. Mia studied the corridors that the Rockets led her through, making note of every path diversion and door that she saw. She was quick to note that there were not many guards on this level at all. Unless the guards were all stationed inside the various offices that lined the corridors, she figured that any response to an escape would be relatively slow, allowing her a good head start on Team Rocket.

Eventually, they came to a small room at the end of the corridor. Butch went forward, prompting one of the Grunts to replace him in restraining Mia, and produced a key. Fitting it into the keyhole, he turned, a clicking sound signifying that the room was unlocked. He then turned the knob and opened the door. As he did so, the old man pushed Mia into the room, telling the rest of the Rockets, "You all stay out here. I'll soften her up for the rest of you. A man can get awfully bored workin' at that souvenir shop all day long with no relief."

The Grunts glanced at each other questioningly for a second, with Cassidy asking, "What exactly are you doing? Our orders were to kill her as soon as possible! This place is out of the way and they'll never find the girl's body down here."

"Aw c'mon," the old man whined. "A guy's gotta have some fun, here. Look at her! She's helpless."

Mia did her best to put on a frightened face but she could not bring herself to whimper or cry. As she lay on her back, she used the rock to begin fraying the ropes that bound her. However, she did so in a surreptitious fashion to conceal the fact that she was loosing her bonds. While she may not have had any knowledge of who she was, or even why these people hated her, she knew that the old man was nothing more than a washed up old thug and had no fighting skills. What was worse, for him, though, was the fact that he underestimated her. He wanted to have some one-on-one time with her and that would cost him, and the rest of them soon enough.

"Well be quick about it," Cassidy reiterated. "We don't want another embarrassment like what happened four years ago, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"We know," one of the other Grunts confirmed.

It was then that the old man went into the blank and unfurnished room, followed by two Grunts, with Butch, Cassidy, and the other escorting grunts remaining outside just in case anything went wrong.

Inside the featureless room, the old man and the two Grunts leered at Mia, grinning sadistically. "Just so you know, the interrogation excuse is just that, an excuse," the old man began, leering at her. "Today, you're gonna die. But you're not gonna die as anyone else would. You're gonna die an ignominious death, deprived of all of your human rights. You won't die a human, but as a broken shell of an animal begging for death before the end finally comes. Hell, you won't even die an animal, just as some mindless, soulless, whimpering, crying, husk. It will be the ultimate vengeance for everything you've ever done to Team Rocket."

The man soon pulled out a knife and grinned as he neared Mia, who was still attempting to free herself. She knew that she could incapacitate the old man easily enough. His arrogance would be easy to take advantage of. The problem would be the two Grunts that were near the exit. If they had guns or Pokémon then she would have no real chance of escape unless they were bone stupid. But at least, she would go down fighting. Before getting to work on Mia, though, the old man turned to the Grunts and told them, "Leave us. I want to have some fun before the execution squad gets in here to finish off what's left of her."

"You sure about that Mr. Gaiden?"

"Yes I'm sure!" the old man roared.

"Fine!" the Grunts retorted as they left the room. The door clanged shut behind her.

"It's just you and me now, little girl," the old man sneered sadistically as he drew his knife and began to lick it.

Mia could not believe her luck and a dark grin crossed her face. God must have been smiling down upon her tonight. There was no way they could be this stupid, not after her last escape. _Her last escape?_ she wondered to herself. She had escaped them before. Had she escaped them from this very base? She did not focus on what she may have done before. She would figure out who she was and what she was later. Now, the only thing that was in her mind was one single word: _FIGHT_. She studied him as he approached her, knowing what to do when he arrived, but not how she knew what to do. The Rocket was completely oblivious to her musings as her face remained blank. "This is gonna be fun," the man quipped as he neared the girl. He then thrust out his arm and hit her in the chest, knocking her to the ground. "You can scream, you know. No one'll hear you, but it is allowed. In fact, it's encouraged."

It was then that the man saw the grim grin on Mia's face as she rose to face him. Despite her hands being tied behind her back, and the rope not being frayed enough for her to break free, and the fact that she was supposedly without any memory or willpower, she would not go down without a fight, and she could still put some force behind her kicks. She focused on the man intently and glared confidently at him. He took a swipe at her but she was able to back away and avoid the strike and she assumed a fighter's stance.

"A fighter," he said appraisingly but also with a lot of menace and cockiness. "I've never had one of those before, especially at such a young age. Breaking you will be a real treat."

The man failed to notice that her grin and confidence were only growing each time he opened his mouth. Not only that, but the urge to fight was welling up inside of her. "There's nothin' you can do, baby girl. No one's gonna come and be your knight in shining armor. Cry and scream all you want, pretty thing. This is your grave. But don't worry. You won't die just yet. There's somethin' that you need to experience first. Somethin' that I really want to show you, and give you, heh heh heh."

He then rushed towards her, knife in hand but she quickly stepped out of his way and thrust her foot right at his knee. Her aim was true and she scored a direct hit. She heard the crack and snap of the bones and tendons as she broke the man's knee with her side kick. The old Rocket shrieked in agony as he dropped the knife and cradled his knee, collapsing onto the ground. Mia then rolled on the ground and brought her arms forward, allowing her less restricted movement of her arms. She then stood over the man and performed another kick, this time to the man's head. The kick knocked him to the floor, but he was not unconscious yet, but he was dazed. As she approached the fallen Rocket, he turned and looked up at her, the man groaning and suppressing more screams. She leaned down and menacingly stated, "Perhaps I'm not as helpless as you were led to believe." Those were the first words she had spoken since being affected by Azelf and Uxie.

Then, with all her strength, she brought the heel of her foot down on the screaming man's throat, a satisfied grin crossing her face as the old Rocket went silent. His cries had not gone unheard, though, as the two Grunts from just outside the door heard his cries and came rushing in.

By the time the Grunts had entered, Mia had already used the discarded knife from the old Rocket to cut her bindings. She rushed over to the exit and flattened herself against the wall as the door was thrust open by the two Grunts. The Grunts entered and quickly took stock of the room. They saw the fallen old Rocket lying on the ground, not moving. One of the Grunts rushed over to check on his condition while the other scanned the room and noticed that there was no sign of Mia. "Hey, where's Leaf?" he asked nervously.

His question was answered as Mia came up from behind and stabbed the man in the back of the throat, killing him instantly. The Rocket slumped over and dropped his Ray Gun, which the girl promptly picked up and used to shoot the other Rocket Grunt in the chest, felling him with one shot.

As soon as she had shot the Rocket, an alarm sounded and she gritted her teeth. She had hoped that their security systems would not have been able to detect weapons fire, but she had no such luck. She quickly went over to the fallen Rocket Grunt and picked up his Ray Gun, stuffing it the belt of her skirt, knowing that they did not have a lot of ammunition. As she did so, she then felt the question of how she knew about he ammunition limitations of the Ray Gun, as well as what it was called, come to mind. She shook them off as she went to focus on the task at hand: _ESCAPE_.

As she focused on escape, she took the Ray Guns from the rest of the fallen Rockets. She hoped to avoid a firefight, but she felt as if that such a wish would be extremely naïve. As such, she did the best she could with what she had. Once she had the guns, she checked the bodies of the Rockets to see if they had any other weapons on them. The old Rocket had a small gray device with a series of pink and blue lights on top. It looked suspiciously like a bomb but there was something different about it. Soon, the words _Motion-Sensor Bomb_ came to mind. She grinned. This would be perfect for dealing with large numbers of Rockets. She knew that Team Rocket would send a group of Grunts to intercept her and kill her quickly so she would have to be quick. She went over to the door and slammed it shut once more.

Walking a few feet away from the door, she dragged the old Rocket close to the door. Before she placed the mine, though, she took the Rocket's coat off and put it on her, hoping that it would provide some protection if the mine's explosion was larger than expected. Next to the Rocket, between his legs and easily concealed, she placed the mine on the ground. It clicked as it struck the ground and stuck to it. After a few seconds, she heard a beep, indicating that it was active. She grinned. Any Rocket that came in to check on the old Rocket, or walk a few feet in would be in for a big surprise.

Just a she expected; it was not long before she heard voices coming down the corridor. She went to the far end of the room on the same wall as the door, hoping to be as far away from the mine's explosion as possible when it eventually went off. She thought that she could hear the voices of several Rockets approaching. She covered her ears and hunkered down as the Rockets stopped talking for a few seconds. She heard a rattle at the door as the doorknob turned. The door was then thrust open and four Rocket Grunts rushed into the room. She recognized the Grunts as the remnants of the same group of Grunts, minus Butch and Cassidy, that had escorted her to the base. She turned and grinned as two of the Grunts made their way close to the body of the old perverted Rocket. Leaning down to check to see what had killed or incapacitated him, they saw his body shudder. "Wake up, gramps!" the first Grunt cried. "Tell us, where's…" but he never finished, for the old Rocket's legs moved right over the Motion-Sensor Bomb, prompting it to detonate.

The bomb exploded, practically disintegrating the old Rocket and the Grunt that had leaned down to talk to him. The other Grunt that was close was also killed by the explosion, with the remaining two Grunts suffering severe to fatal injuries from the explosion. They were thrown from the epicenter of the explosion and landed a few feet away where they lay still.

After the bomb's detonation, Mia went over to the Rockets, drawing one of her Ray Guns, just in case one or more of the Rockets had survived, or there were more Grunts coming. Going over to them, she found that one of the Grunts had been carrying a Beam Sword. The rainbow-colored energy blade was active but in its first state, was merely the size of a shortsword. Mia grabbed the Beam Sword, figuring that it would be useful if, or when, she ran out of ammunition for her Ray Guns.

After searching the bodies of the fallen Rockets for any additional weapons, and finding none, she left the room and made her way down the corridor, focusing intently on her surroundings, making sure that she did not fall into any ambushes. The glanced down the first corridor and found that it was clear. She did not want to waste any time on the lowest floor, so she did not stop to examine any of the rooms that were present. She then proceeded to make her way down the corridor, taking the first right she saw, remembering the path that her captors had used to take her to the site of her execution, and hoping that it would be a while before Team Rocket knew that she had escaped her captors.

Just as she had turned to go down the next corridor, another quartet of Rockets, this one including Butch and Cassidy emerged from an elevator not far away from the corridor that Mia had just past through. They were not taking any chances, though, for Butch and Cassidy had let out some of their Pokémon, seeing as Charizard, Aggron, and two Shedinjas formed up around the two Agents in support. Two of the Grunts emerged from the elevator and rushed down the corridor to get to the execution room, the source of the original Security Alert. Cassidy followed them, along with her Charizard and Shedinja, but Butch caught a glimpse of movement from out of the corner of his eye. He took off towards the source of the movement and soon managed to catch sight of Mia. "Stop," he cried at the top of his lungs, drawing his Ray Gun. "Leaf's escaping!" he warned.

His cries did not fall on deaf ears as Cassidy soon came back to try to support him, but he and his Pokémon had already taken off in the opposite direction. However, he took off in pursuit of the girl immediately upon catching sight of her. Cassidy was not too far behind, but did not take the time to stop and alert the others of Mia's escape.

The other two Grunts did not hear Butch's cries and as such, they continued on their way to the room, Ray Guns in hand. Just to make sure, though, they took out two Poké Balls and let out a Koffing and a Weezing, each. "Cover us," the Rockets told their Pokémon. "We don't know what's going on down here.

The Pokémon nodded and gave a voiced their confirmation as they hung back, making sure that the two Grunts were not ambushed.

When the Grunts arrived at the room, they noticed that the door was ajar. Rushing to it, they thrust it open, quickly rushing back just in case it was rigged to explode. It did not, so the Grunts quickly made their way into the room, their Pokémon hanging back outside the room. They quickly examined the scene and saw the charred remains of several Rocket Grunts lying on the floor. Scanning the room, they found no sign of Mia and knew that the worst-case scenario was happening. She had escaped. Getting out their cell phones, the Rockets dialed a number and yelled into the phones, crying, "Leaf has escaped! The old guard is dead, as are six other Rockets! Set Alert Status to Red!"

As soon as he had made his report, the lights inside the base turned to blood red as lines of red bars on the wall lit up at regular intervals. Klaxons also sounded, alerting everyone to the escape. All throughout the base Rockets each rose from their stations and went drew their side arms and released their Pokémon. Teams were formed and set off in search of the escaped former Champion.

Meanwhile, in the main office of the base, Archer was finalizing the plans for the attack on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower when the lights turned from their normal hue to red and the Red Alert klaxons sounded, as did the alert about Mia's escape. Ariana came bursting through the door, crying, "Archer, Leaf has escaped confinement and is on the run!"

"I just heard," Archer answered. "Get Dr. Zager and his assault force to the surface now and tell them to take off for Goldenrod's Radio Tower as quickly as possible. You and the other Executives, get to the first floor and lock down the computers, purging them if necessary, making sure to back up any essential data. We can't risk letting any of our data fall into Leaf's hands if she succeeds in her escape."

"Shouldn't we warn Giovanni?"

"I'll do that only if we don't find Leaf. I don't want to disturb him since he's likely asleep. I'll be going up to brief Zager and his forces."

"Right," Ariana replied.

"Also, make sure that you send security forces to key locations inside the base. I don't want Leaf getting anywhere close to our generator."

"Understood, sir," she answered bowing. She then left to carry out Archer's orders and assist in the search for Mia.

After Ariana had left his office Archer then gathered the papers that were at his desk and he, too, departed, heading up to the surface where there was a secret helipad behind the small souvenir shop, and the assembly area for Zager and his forces.

As for Mia, she continued down the corridor, gritting her teeth as the base went to Red Alert. Glancing behind her, she found Butch, along with his Charizard and Shedinja, pursuing her. She turned and took a few potshots at him and his Pokémon with her Ray Gun, managing to score a hit on Charizard's wing, slowing it down, but Butch and Shedinja kept on coming. After taking a few more shots, one glanced off a wall close to him and halted him for a few moments before he fired back, missing the girl, and then continued the pursuit. Eventually, she came to a corner and found a small alcove where she could hide for a time. She ducked inside, figuring that this would be a good place to ambush Butch. The thought of fighting and/or killing Butch caused her to tremble with excitement. She would finally get back at him for all the abuse he had heaped on her during her captivity. She stuffed her Ray Gun into her skirt, not wanting the loud pop of the gun to give away her position when she sneak attacked Butch and his Pokémon and drew the Beam Sword. She only hoped that the plasma nature of the energy blade would allow it to harm Shedinja. As she swiped the blade, she heard a small thrum as it cut through the air reminiscent of a Star Wars lightsaber. This could potentially be a problem if there were any Pokémon with sensitive hearing around, but she figured that it was safer than using the Ray Gun.

Butch and his Shedinja soon neared the alcove, along with his Charizard, who still seemed to be limping from the earlier hit. She quickly drew her blade back and waited for Butch to appear. He soon appeared from around the corner in front of the alcove, but he did not seem to notice her. Shedinja soon floated by, with Charizard stomping by as well. She soon gave a quick, "Hey," to the group, getting their attention and surprising them.

As soon as Butch turned and saw her already cocked and ready to swing, his eyes went wide with surprise as he tried to whirl his Ray Gun around to shoot her. He was far to slow, though, as Mia swung the blade and cut him in half, the blade cutting through his arms and chest, instantly killing him. As Mia had swung the Beam Sword hard, it grew in length and her swipe caught Butch's Charizard as well, killing it too. The blade merely passed through Shedinja, though, inflicting no damage, prompting her to grunt and dive out of the alcove.

As Mia dove to the ground, Shedinja performed X-Scissor, an X of white energy forming in front of the Pokémon. Mia's dive took her out of the path of the X-Scissor and the Bug/Ghost-type Pokémon crashed into the alcove, destroying it, a cloud of dust obscuring Mia as she retreated back down the corridor, searching for someplace to hide until Shedinja lost her trail and moved away. She found a door close to the alcove and while Shedinja pulled itself out of the alcove's debris, she dashed towards the door. She gripped the knob and turned it, relief entering her as she found the door to be unlocked. As she pulled the door open, she drew one of her Ray Guns, just in case the room was occupied, and ducked inside, quickly pulling the door shut before Shedinja caught sight of her.

The inside of the room was dark and she fumbled around to search for a light switch. Gliding her fingers against the wall, she soon found what she suspected, and hoped, was a light switch. Flicking the switch, light immediately illuminated the room, almost blinding the girl for a moment. She covered her eyes and blinked as she acclimated herself to the light. After a few moments, she was able to see normally once more and she gazed around the room. Her eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning after coming down to see the presents beneath the tree, for she found herself in the armory of Team Rocket's Mahogany Town base. All sorts of weapons and items lined the wall from Ray Guns, to Super Scopes, to Gooey Bombs and Motion-Sensor Bombs, to several varieties of Poké Ball. She was quick to note that at least one of the Poké Balls was a Master Ball. Looking around, she also found several weapons and items that she had not yet seen Team Rocket field, such as rocket propelled grenade launchers, an orange, yellow, and white flower with black eyes and a green stem, as well as an assortment of other items and weapons. Much of the military hardware seemed to be similar to old Earth military weaponry but there were still a few more advanced weapons as well.

Mia eyes became aglow as she saw the arsenal sitting before her. With any combination these, she would easily be able to arm herself enough to escape the base, and hopefully also storm the Pokémon League and free her Pokémon friends, as well as take down Giovanni. She did not ask why the idea of taking down someone called Giovanni or freeing her Pokémon friends came to mind, she just figured that it was a good idea. After a few seconds, though, questions began to form in her mind. First and foremost was how Giovanni had managed to acquire such a great number of powerful weapons and not raise a few red flags in the process. There was enough weaponry here to equip an army. Second was, what was Giovanni planning to do with all of these weapons? He had enough Pokémon for all of his Team Rocket workers and the stronger Pokémon were far more effective then the military hardware that she saw before her. Not only that, but given all of the weaponry here, she did not know if he even had that many Rocket grunts, agents, and officers working for him at the moment. Granted her attack on Team Rocket Headquarters had taken out a large number of Rockets, with very few Grunts surviving the attack, but still, even with them, this seemed a little much. Perhaps Giovanni was going to hire a bunch of mercenaries to fight for him.

She did not dwell much on the subject, for a fiendish plan was coming to her mind. She went over and grabbed one of the flowers, which she did not know was a Fire Flower at first, but did when she held them and a puff of flame emerged from the head. When she realized what it was, she quickly grabbed another and stuffed in her belt. She finally had a weapon that would be enough to beat Shedinja. She would quickly get a chance to test it, for Butch's Shedinja quickly phased through the door and approached her. Upon spotting her, it glared and charged towards her, powering an X-Scissor attack. Mia stood firm and pointed the Fire Flower directly at the approaching Bug/Ghost-type. When it was close, she let loose with a vicious stream of flame. The stream of flame scored a direct hit on the Pokémon and instantly knocked it unconscious.

With Shedinja having been dealt with, she quickly went over and grabbed a Super Scope, a couple of Gooey Bombs, and a few Motion-Sensor Bombs. She slung the Super Scope over her shoulder and grabbed a bag to place the other ordnance in. She took the Super Scope, knowing its versatility, and slung it over her shoulder.

Lastly, she went over and tried to pile as many explosives around the room as she could. She placed the RPGs, missiles, bombs, and anything else that could explode as close together as possible. She then took a few Gooey Bombs and activated them, the orange spheres in the center glowing brightly. She then tossed a few of them all around the room, while tossing the last one to the central mass of crates. Once that was accomplished, she opened the door and fled down the corridor as quickly as her legs would allow given the weaponry she was carrying.

Back inside the armory, the Gooey Bombs that had been deployed all around the room began to flash slowly. After a few moments, the flashing increased in speed. The flashing then increased until each of the bombs exploded, prompting the rest of the ordnance to explode as well. The explosion devastated the entirety of Basement Floor Three of the base, and also inflicted significant damage to the second floor as well. The door to the armory was completely melted, as were the walls to the adjacent offices, along with the roof. Some of the fireworks from some of the Cracker Launchers did not explode, but instead, shot off in various directions, inflicting even more damage to the base. The fireball rocketed through the floor incinerating anyone and everyone still on the floor. Even before the fireball expanded to encompass most of Basement Floor Three, the shockwave had shattered any glass windows, propelling the shards inward, skewering several Rockets in the process. The fireball merely finished them off. When all was said and done, the entire Basement Floor Three had been destroyed, along with a large section of Basement Floor Two. Not only that, but the power generator had also sustained damage from the explosion.

As for Mia, the moment she had set the Gooey Bombs, she rushed out of the room and ran as fast as she could down the corridor towards the stairwell that would take her up to the next floor. She did not dare stop, knowing what the bombs would do to her if she was trapped on this floor when they exploded. Two Rockets barred her way, each of them being escorted by a Koffing. She quickly drew out her Ray Gun and opened fire on them, taking down both Rockets as the Koffings fired Sludge Bombs her way. She dodged the incoming balls of poison and took two more shots at the Poison-type Pokémon. The green energy bolts scored direct hits on the Pokémon and inflicted enough damage to knock them unconscious but not kill them. The girl then ran past the Koffings and went up the stairs to the next floor.

There, she was met by a contingent of Rocket Grunts. She drew her Ray Gun and opened fire on them before they could fire on her or release their Pokémon. She managed to fell two of them, causing the others to dive for cover. Using that opening, Mia rushed towards cover, herself, and began to hunker down as she moved quickly in search of the stairwell to the first floor. She counted down the seconds as she waited for the Gooey Bombs to explode and destroy the weapons in the armory, as well as destroy Basement Floor Three. The explosion soon came and changed everything.

The floor shook and all Rockets that were standing were shaken to the floor. Despite being a floor below them, the explosion was still loud and it got everyone's attention. The fire alarm soon sounded, an old device, as evidenced by the fact that it emitted a high-pitched shriek that would have driven almost anyone who was not covering their ears to insanity, or worse. Mia took advantage of the explosion and the torturous fire alarm to fire off several more bolts from her Ray Gun and take down the Rocket Grunts that had been disoriented by the recent events. Six shots were fired and six more Rockets were taken down. She soon ducked behind a desk when she heard more Rocket Grunts coming. She peered out from around the corner and saw the Rockets headed down to Basement Floor Three. She waited for the echo of their footfalls to grow quieter before rising and continuing on her way.

On the first floor, Archer and the other Executives were about to go out to the back when they felt the explosion on Basement Floor Three. As the base shook, the Executives struggled to maintain their footing. Eventually, the shaking stopped but the fire alarm went off. They took that as their cue to leave the base as quickly as possible, going out to the helipad to meet Dr. Zager and his assault force.

Outside the base, in the back, was a large twin rotored helicopter painted dark gray with a large red "R" on each of its sides. Standing outside were Dr. Zager, and six Rocket Agents. The rest of the Rockets had already boarded and were simply waiting for the doctor and the rest of his retinue to board before taking off.

Once outside, Archer rushed over to Dr. Zager and told him, "Get your men and all of the equipment you need onboard that helicopter and get moving now."

Seeing that Archer was troubled, Zager asked, "What's wrong?"

"Leaf's escaped and is ruining the hideout as we speak," Archer answered.

"Then shouldn't we go and help the others capture or kill her?" the scientist asked.

Archer shook his head. "No. Your mission is too important to Team Rocket. While it will hurt, we can survive the loss of Mahogany Town base if we have to. If you are lost, though, then all of what we have been working towards will be in jeopardy."

"Understood," Zager answered. "We won't let you or Giovanni down."

The last of the Grunts then filed onto the helicopter as the last few technicians were preparing to board as well. "Good luck," Archer wished.

"And to you, too," Zager replied, saluting Team Rocket's second in command as he boarded the helicopter. As he boarded the helicopter, the craft began its startup sequence and the rotors began to spin.

Meanwhile, inside the base, Mia rose and continued to make her way to the next stairwell when a blast of energy sizzled the air next to her cheeks, continuing until it reached the wall and gouged a large hole into it. She turned to see Cassidy and her Raticate standing not too far away from her on the other side of a door that led to the base's main generator. Mia quickly retaliated with a volley of shots from her Ray Gun, scoring several direct hits on Raticate, taking it down before it could get off another Hyper Beam. She fired until the Ray Gun ran dry. Fortunately, though, that was enough to either kill or knock the Raticate unconscious, for the brown and white rat-like Pokémon fell to the floor and was taken out of the fight. Cassidy, however, was armed with an RPG and she leveled it directly at Mia. "Time to die, Leaf," she growled as went to pull the trigger. Mia, knowing that she did not have much time, did the last thing Cassidy expected. She charged the woman, drawing her Beam Sword. With a single swipe, she cut Cassidy in half, the Rocket Agent dropping the RPG. Mia then went over to the fallen Rocket and picked up the RPG, slinging it over her shoulder.

She soon looked through the door and saw the generator for the entire base in front of her. It looked like it had built from the remains of the transmitter that had enraged the Gyarados of the Lake of Rage no more than a year ago. She soon pulled out one of her Gooey Bombs and tossed it at the generator. It stuck to the generator wall and remained, flashing. Mia knew that she did not have much time before the bomb exploded, and likely took the generator, if not the whole base, along with it. To that end, she rushed over to the stairwell and ascended it to reach the first basement floor.

On the first basement floor, four Rocket Grunts stood not too far away from the escalator. Immediately upon emerging from the escalator she drew out her remaining Ray Gun and opened fire on the remaining Rocket Grunts. Two shots immediately felled the Rockets, with the other two taking a few shots at Mia, which went wide, and ducking for cover. Mia did not stop to try and take down the remaining Grunts. She just went over to the zip tiles and stepped on them and was propelled away from the two remaining Grunts. She laid down some covering fire, though, so that they would not get the idea to try and fire on her while she was fleeing them.

She soon came to the wall and managed to stop her slide before colliding with it. She looked to her right and saw the escalator to the souvenir shop. She ran as fast as she could, feeling the ground shake as the Gooey Bomb exploded and likely the death throes of the generator as well. She ignored the Persian statues as they each sounded an alarm klaxon as she rushed past them as she made her way to the stairwell that would take her out of the base. The ground shook once more as she heard the yells of various Rocket Grunts as they were running up the stairs to the first floor. It was clear from the shaking ground and explosions, though, that they were not coming for her, but running away from the exploding generator. Wasting no time, she reached the location of the stairwell and pushed a button to have it rise to the shop above. Once the stairwell had risen, she quickly ascended it, wanting to make sure that she was not followed. As she went up the stairs, she heard the sound of a helicopter's engines from outside the base.

After what seemed like a long climb, Mia made it up the stairs and entered the souvenir shop. Once inside, she went over to the crate that revealed the entrance to the base and pushed the button. As the staircase receded, she shot the button to try to seal the Rockets inside their own base, or at least make it take a long time for them to be able to get out, more than long enough for her to get out of Mahogany Town and to one of the neighboring towns and hopefully get a ride back to he Kanto region. Once she was finished, she proceeded to leave the shop.

Upon exiting the shop, she heard the loud roar of the helicopter's engines above her. She ignored the sounds for a bit as she felt the ground shake as the generator finally exploded and likely took out at least Basement Floor Two of Team Rocket's hideout. A dark grin twisted her lips as she felt the final explosion. Team Rocket had just suffered severe losses in manpower and equipment that would not be easy for Giovanni to replace.

Stepping out, she scanned to see the source for the sound of the helicopter's engines. Turning around, she saw a large twin rotored helicopter rise into the air and tilt towards her. She noticed that the helicopter seemed to have some defensive weaponry, as well as a red "R" on its side. While it did not seem to want to open fire on her, she did not want to take any chances. Besides, chances were that there were several important Rockets onboard as well. Taking her RPG, she pointed it at the helicopter as it did, in fact, begin to open fire on her. She quickly fired the rocket and dove to the side as a stream of energy bolts erupted from both a chin gun as well as a barrage of Bullet Seed from two Carnivines that had emerged from two open hatches, the energy bolts gouging noticeable-sized holes around Mia with the Bullet Seed striking close to the girl, throwing up dirt and debris. The rocket scored a direct hit on the helicopter's canopy and detonated, blowing apart the front quarter of the helicopter and killing the pilot and anyone in the cockpit. The helicopter immediately lost control and began to spin in the air as it listed to the side and fell to the ground. Mia fled the scene as the large helicopter came hurtling down to the ground where it crashed and exploded, sending out debris and shrapnel everywhere.

Archer and the others watched the scene unfold from behind the base as the rocket struck Zager's helicopter and blew apart the cockpit. They wanted to look away but were not able to do so as the helicopter fell to the ground and exploded, months of work going up in flames just like the helicopter. It was then that Petrel reported to Archer, "Sir, I'm receiving distress signals from some Grunts still inside the base. The generator has exploded and most of our personnel inside are dead."

Archer stared at the flaming wreckage of the helicopter blankly as Petrel made his report. "Go and get them out," he told his fellow Executive absently.

Proton soon caught sight of a blur of motion leaving the base. Focusing on the figure, he saw that it was Mia. "Sir, Leaf has escaped. We have to pursue her!" he cried.

"With what?" Ariana retorted. "All we have are our Pokémon, and we might not be able to catch her before she picks them off. Turning to Archer, she asked, "What should we do, sir?"

"Stay here and wait for Giovanni's orders," Archer answered firmly. "Team Rocket has lost enough already. We don't need to lose four Executives unless Giovanni commands it."

He then got out his cell phone and dialed Giovanni's number. After a few rings, Giovanni's voice came in over the phone, grumbling, "You'd better have a good reason for calling me this late at night. Or is it early in the morning? And it had better be good news."

"I'm sorry, but while this is important, the news is dire," Archer began. "Former Champion Leaf has escaped us and Mahogany Town base has been all but destroyed. The armory was destroyed, with all weapons and items lost, and the generator has exploded. In addition, Dr. Zager and the assault force that was going to take over Goldenrod City's Radio Tower were killed when Leaf shot down their helicopter."

On the other side of the line, Giovanni could only listen in stunned silence. Everything that he had been planning was falling apart. While it was not the end of the world since Gideon still had his research and Giovanni could simply send another force to take over the Radio Tower, the losses were significant, especially with Mia on the loose.

"What do you wish for me to do?" Archer asked.

"Are the other Executives with you?" Giovanni asked.

"Yes," answered Archer. "Proton spotted Leaf leaving the scene of our helicopter's destruction. Do you wish for us to pursue her?"

"No," Giovanni answered relatively calmly considering that he had lost almost all of his reserves just after the devastating losses incurred during the attack and destruction of Team Rocket Headquarters. "I want the four of you to come to Pokémon League Headquarters as soon as possible. I'll need you here."

"Understood," Archer answered. "We'll be there by morning."

He then hung up the phone. Ariana came over and asked, "So, what did he say?"

"He wants us to join him at Pokémon League Headquarters."

The answer surprised Ariana and the others, as well as gave them cause for concern. Giovanni did not tolerate failure, and this had all been nothing less than a colossal catastrophe. Mia had escaped, the base was destroyed, and Dr. Zager and all of his forces had been killed before they had even left the base, proper. Still, they would perform their duty. They followed Archer as he prepared to leave the base and head out of town so they could find transportation to the Kanto Region of Japan, and hopefully arrive at Pokémon League Headquarters before morning.

Meanwhile, Mia was making her way out of town when a purple vortex appeared directly in front of her. She skidded to a stop and readied her Super Scope. A figure soon emerged from the vortex and stood right in front of her. He had green skin, orange hair, and black armor. He gave her an evil grin and despite not being psychic or an Aura user, Mia could tell that this man was evil. She took aim with the Super Scope and charged it up to its maximum charge. She then let loose with a large yellow pulse of energy. The pulse of energy scored a direct hit on the man, but it inflicted no damage. He did not even seem to feel a thing. "Weapons like that are useless against me, human girl." He then showed the girl the back of his hand. On it was a gold triple triangle with the top portion of it glowing. She figured that the mark was something that gave him power, enough to shrug off a fully charged shot from a Super Scope as if it were nothing.

Mia gritted her teeth as she gripped her last Gooey Bomb and prepared to toss it at him. However, the figure merely stood there and smiled, not making a move. "I must commend you on your escape from Team Rocket's base, Leaf. You inflicted tremendous damage to the organization and were able to even defeat Giovanni in a battle before your capture. But I am not Giovanni. I am unlike anyone you've ever encountered."

Mia stepped backwards as the man began to approach. Who was he? How did he know all of these things that she had done? Had she done all of these things he was attributing to her? He had called her "Leaf". Was that her name? "Who are you?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"I am Ganondorf," the man answered.

"What do you want?" was Mia's next question.

Ganondorf merely smiled. There was a darkness to his smile, but was not one of sadism or perversion like those of the Rockets had been while they had been abusing her. Still, Ganondorf's next statement would greatly surprise her. "I wish to help you regain what you lost," he answered.

"What do you mean?"

Ganondorf grinned again. "What is your name, child? Why does Team Rocket hate you so much?"

Mia tried to think of her name and why Team Rocket would hate her so much but she could not come up with the answer. Still, she remembered him calling her Leaf. "Is it Leaf?" she asked, uncertain of whether it was correct, but not really having anything else to go on.

"I don't know," Ganondorf answered shrugging. He then looked back at her squarely in the eye. "However, I believe I can help you find out," he continued enticingly.

Mia gazed at him in curiosity. He grinned, knowing that he had her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I know that you were hit by the powers of Pokémon called Azelf and Uxie," he answered. "They are known to be able to sap someone of willpower and erase one's memory. However, when your memory was erased, so too was the memory that you had had your willpower drained. As such, you fought purely by means of your own nature. Your nature, though, is that of a fighter. It is who you are in your soul, and that, nothing could destroy. Using that bit about you, I believe that together, you and I can help you regain your memory and even your willpower in the process."

"And what do I have to do for you to do this for me?" Mia asked, knowing that there was an angle to Ganondorf's offer.

Ganondorf then gave her a smile. "Come with me," he answered in a casual voice.

"And if I refuse?"

"I'll leave you right here if that is your wish," Ganondorf answered. "However, know that there is nothing on Earth that can cure you of your condition. I, however, have things that may help. But I will not do this without your consent. However, the offer comes with a time limit. You have two minutes. It won't be long before authorities come to investigate the scene here and it would not be good for you to be found by them. After all, some of them may be on Team Rocket's payroll."

Mia carefully considered Ganondorf's offer but she was finding it difficult to think. Perhaps she was beginning to feel the loss of the willpower since she was no longer in a fight for her life. There was no doubt that there was something off about this Ganondorf, but despite his ability to withstand a shot from a Super Scope at point blank range without showing any signs of even feeling it, he had not attacked her or lorded his superiority over her. He may have been bad, but he was not Team Rocket. And if he was somehow an enemy of Team Rocket, then the enemy of her enemy was her friend. As such, she decided, "Very well. I accept your offer."

"Excellent!" Ganondorf exclaimed seemingly joyfully.

He then walked up to Mia and extended his hand. She then gripped it and shook it; something that she figured was a means of sealing a deal. Ganondorf took her hand and gripped it firmly but without malice as they shook. "Come," Ganondorf told her as he released her hand and swept his own around him, forming a purple portal in front of them. "Let us take you somewhere safe so that Team Rocket and their agents won't be able to find us. Once we find your memories, we'll put an end to their plans once and for all." That last bit was said with a particularly sadistic grin, a grin mirrored by Mia's own. With that, the two walked through the portal. Once they were through, the portal closed, leaving no evidence that they had ever been on Earth.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Ash's eyes shot open as he awoke in a cold sweat. The memories and nightmare were both still vivid in his mind. Just after his memory had been restored and he had seen what happened that fateful night when Team Rocket had kidnapped Mia, he also saw another figure appear in his dream as Mia had escaped Team Rocket, only for her to disappear with him. When he woke up, he tried to reach out to her with his twin bond, but he could feel nothing at all. His terror mounted as he knew that something bad had happened to her and he feared the worst. The only thing that made him feel as if she were not dead was that he was not hurting in his heart at the moment so there was that at least. Next, he realized that he had to get his bearings.

Looking up at the ceiling, he figured that it was day, since the sun was shining in the window. However, it was likely early in the morning. Seeing the ceiling, he figured that he was inside a building of some sort. The fact that he was laying in a bed also gave it away. He turned his head and expected to see Pikachu next to him, but began to grow concerned when he did not see any sign of his best friend. He calmed down when he heard a voice next to him say, "So, you're awake."

Turning his head to the right, he saw his father sitting next to the bed, looking down at him kindly. A part of him was shocked that he recognized the man as his father, considering the fact that he had believed his father to be scum that had abandoned him and his mother when he was young. However, his dream had quickly destroyed that false memory of his father. Still, questions began to rush through his mind. What was his father doing here? Why was he here? However, the first question he asked was, "How long was I out?"

"About six hours," John answered, looking down at his son kindly.

"Pikapi!" Ash heard a familiar voice cry from over on the nightstand. Turning his head over to the stand, he saw Pikachu beaming towards him. The electric mouse soon bounded from the stand, over the space between the stand and the bed, and onto Ash's chest, hugging him fiercely. The landing on his chest caused Ash to forcibly exhale his breath but that was no bother for him. He was just happy to see that his best friend was okay.

John watched the reunion and could only smile. It had been so long since he had seen any of his children, much less Ash, happy. It was not long before Charizard entered the cabin. When he did so, he quickly rushed over to Ash and gave a roar of approval. "Hey Charizard," Ash said, waving towards the dragon, clearly remembering him as well. "I'm glad you stayed by my side. I hope I wasn't too much of a burden for you."

A joyful roar told him that he was no burden at all, as did Charizard's Flamethrower to the boy's face, which prompted a half mock cry of surprise and discomfort. The flames lashed out and covered Ash's face for a few seconds before the stream cut off. Ash's face was covered in soot, but the pain instantly went away as he shook his head, easily shaking off the soot and he suffered no permanent injury, quickly being replaced with joy at Charizard's traditional greeting. Eventually, Ash looked behind his Pokémon and focused on his father. "So Dad, how did I recover my willpower, emotion, and memory?" he called out in question.

"I used special water from a planet called Hylia to heal you of the loss of your willpower and emotion. As for your memories, I used a magical pendant called the Pendant of Memories to restore your memories. It was the safest way for me to restore your memories without having a Psychic-type Pokémon on hand. Even if I had one with me right now, the Pendant would still be safer than having a Pokémon try to restore your memories and have the best chance of success. In addition, it also repaired any brain damage that the mind probing done by Team Rocket's psychic Pokémon may have caused."

He sat up a bit and marshaled his thoughts. His eyes soon went wide as ton of questions went through his mind.

"Not so fast," his father cautioned, placing his hands on Ash's shoulders, trying to convince the boy to lay back down for a bit. "You still have to recover your strength."

"I had something to eat at the party before Team Rocket attacked. I'm fine."

"I saw your battle against Mia," John told his son, trying to change the subject a bit. "You did very well to defeat her."

"I think she held back on me, especially in the physical fight." The memory of the fight was fresh in his mind, as was his memories of all of Mia's accomplishments.

"No more than you did when you realized that she was your sister," John countered. Ash gave an embarrassed smile. His smile soon faded, though, something his father was quick to notice. "What is it?"

"A lot of things," Ash answered, looking glumly as he threw his legs over the edge of the bed and sat on its side. "First of all, something's happened to Mia."

"What?" John asked, hoping that it was merely the fact that she had been captured by Team Rocket.

Ash looked away from his father as tears began to form in his eyes. "She was drained of her willpower by Azelf," Ash said, barely holding back tears. "She did it to save me."

"I know. It's just like her," he said in a caring tone, trying to make Ash feel better. However, his words were giving Ash no comfort. If anything, there were only making him feel worse.

"And then I failed to save her and, as you know, got zapped by the Lake Guardians' abilities," Ash then added, barely blinking back tears as he looked away from his father.

"It's not your fault," John told Ash, trying to console him. It did nothing to raise Ash's spirits.

"I should have saved her!" Ash blurted. "I failed her."

"No you didn't," John answered. "You'll only fail her if you sit around here moping instead of fighting Team Rocket."

"Getting back to Team Rocket, they're in league with the Pokémon League and have almost certainly captured Mom and my friends: Tracey, May, and Dawn," came Ash's next statement.

"I know," John interjected. "That's why I was in the area. I was doing work for my current so-called master when I saw Team Rocket attacking the hotel. After that, I decided to remain in case something bad happened. Sadly, something bad _did_ happen."

"What were you doing?"

"That's not important at the moment. What's important is that you and your Pokémon get well so you can save Mia and stop Team Rocket in the process. I'm only supposed to be observing and seeing what happens, not directly taking part in the action."

"I'm not sure that's possible anymore," Ash said, doing his best to hold back his tears.

"Why's that?" John asked, worried about what Ash's answer would be.

"Because I can no longer sense Mia anywhere. Our twin bond is severed. And it wasn't due to anything from the Pendant of Memories and/or whatever else you used on me," Ash answered. "She's not here, on Earth. That means that she's either been taken off world or…" he let the last part of his statement go unfinished. He knew that it was highly unlikely that Mia was taken off world.

"Don't worry, Ash, Mia's not dead," John stated as strongly as he could, though it did little to calm Ash's fears.

"How can you know that?" Ash asked, hoping that his father knew something that he did not, though doubting that fact. "I'm her twin brother and I now have an emptiness inside of my gut and soul that she filled."

"I have faith that Mia won't let Team Rocket kill her, even if she were drained of her willpower by Azelf. She's a warrior. Fighting is in her nature. It's who she is. It'll take more than Azelf to make her defenseless. Anyway, I may have a way of finding Mia," he stated in a hopeful tone.

"What would that be?"

"By having my boss help me look for her," John answered. "I can have my boss search for her, telling him that Mia would be a good recruit for his army. If she's been hit by Azelf's ability, it would be that much easier to sell."

"Whom do you work for?" Ash asked, curious as to whom his father was talking about and whether or not he should worry about his father's boss, too.

"Ostensibly, Master Hand," John answered. "In truth, I'm on your side; yours and the other Chosen Heroes'."

"Master Hand? Chosen Heroes?" Ash asked, puzzled.

"It's all very complicated and it would take time to explain and we don't have the time right now," his father explained. He then handed Ash a datapad. "Here, you take this." Ash accepted the datapad. "Whatever you do, don't lose it, and don't tell anyone where you got it. This should explain everything you need to know for the time being." He sighed and placed his hands on his son's shoulders before continuing. "Ash, there are so many things I want to tell you; so many things you need to hear, both you and Mia. Needless to say, whatever you may remember of me is at best the incomplete story, and at worst blatantly false."

"So, what _did_ happen to you?" Ash inquired. There was a moment of silence as John mulled over what to say. "I have to know," he continued strongly.

After a few moments, John decided that it would be a disservice to his son to not tell him what had happened. So in the end, he decided to tell Ash where he had been and why he had not seen him in so long. "Your memory of me cuts off when I left you and Delia alone with a couple of Pokémon to protect them so I could pursue Mia, right?"

"Yeah," Ash said, nodding.

"Well, my Charizard and I managed to catch up to the helicopter relatively quickly. It opened fire on us, but we managed to avoid everything it threw at us. It then dove and we followed after it, meeting some resistance in the form of two Koffings. We dealt with them and soon managed to reach to the helicopter, which had landed in a clear section of Viridian Forest. Once we got to the helicopter, though, we found that it was abandoned. Not too far away, we came across a small base in the woods and we raided it, only to find Team Rocket teleporting captured children away, one of them being Mia. I engaged the last of the Rockets before they escaped, managing to take some of them down and interrogate them. They quickly told me where they were taking the children. It was the Celadon City Game Corner. I also had Espeon scan them and confirm the information. I was, of course, worried that Mia was going to be sold into slavery, given her looks as well as her temperament, so I rushed over to Celadon City, alerting the police to what was happening, as well as the fact that children were being held at the Game Corner. However, the operative must have not known the final destination of the children, for when I arrived at the Game Corner, there were no children there at all. Furthermore, there was a squad of Pokémon World federal agents there to arrest me for assault, battery, and even the murder of the Team Rocket commander. I tried to resist, but they overpowered me and I was captured and put in jail."

"Why'd they arrest you for killing the Team Rocket Commander?" Ash asked.

"Because it appears as if the Pokémon League, or at least high-ranking members of it, and Team Rocket had been working together for much longer than expected," John answered. "Chances are that Mercier is not the first guy to be willing to work with organizations like Team Rocket in order to prepare for possible actions to be taken against them by United Earth and/or the Galactic Federation. Anyway, back to the story, I eventually managed to escape but I had the Pokémon World's police force on my tail. I didn't want to drag you and your mother into this, since they would soon investigate you and pass information about you back to Team Rocket, so I simply continued to search for Mia, which would also expose the corruption in the Pokémon World's police force which would prove that my defense of you, which resulted in the death of that Team Rocket Commander, was justified. Sadly, though, despite my constant searching, I never found her and near the end of my search I feared the worst. To make matters worse, the Pokémon League and Team Rocket were closing in on me. That was when I was found by Master Hand, literally a large floating white gloved right hand."

"Is Master Hand your 'master'?"

John nodded. "When Master Hand first met me, he told me that he was already aware of my situation. He informed me that corrupt elements in the Pokémon League were working with Team Rocket and had assisted them in the finding and kidnapping of various children. The goal was to teach kids to have the same views on Pokémon that they did and have them work for Team Rocket."

"And they were?"

"They all viewed Pokémon as non-sentient to semi-sentient beings at best that had a genetic urge to fight, which was half true. Master Hand told me that it was humans that had created Pokémon using DNA from Mew and combining it with normal animal DNA to create the Pokémon. They were designed to be soldiers in World War Three, but the war ended before they could be widely deployed. They were eventually used in the War Against the PSI Aliens, but even they were not enough against the aliens, a miracle being required for humanity to survive that war. There is a lot more to why those elements of the Pokémon League were like that, but it is one of the reasons why Unova pulled out of the Pokémon World and why Kalos is currently on the fence. I could go on for a long time about the ins and outs of what's happening. Needless to say, Master Hand presented convincing evidence that all of these things were happening, something that was confirmed when I joined with the Subspace Army.

"Master Hand then told me that he wished for me to join the Subspace Army, an army that he was building. I responded by telling him that I had to find my daughter and save her from Team Rocket. He responded by showing me that she had already managed to escape from them, along with the other kids that were kidnapped, those that did not voluntarily join them. I, of course, wanted to be with her, and you and Delia, but Master Hand told me that Team Rocket had already altered your memories and you and Delia had false memories implanted in your minds, viewing me as having left you for another woman. He said that Team Rocket and corrupt Pokémon League agents were all around Pallet Town, searching furiously for Mia and me. He told me that he could not only protect me, but more importantly, give me an opportunity to help both of you in the process, as well as look out for Delia. In the end, I agreed to join the Subspace Army and become one of its generals. Ever since then, I have followed Master Hand's orders to the letter, just as he directed."

"Well I can tell you that I have not seen any of the corrupt elements in the Pokémon League, save for the officials at Team Rocket Headquarters," Ash declared. "The Chairman of the Pokémon League is a man named Charles Goodshow."

"I've never heard of him. Perhaps Team Rocket's influence was more limited than I thought, or Mia's escape and her subsequent adventures did more damage to their plans than they anticipated. Though I know that the current Chairman of the Pokémon League is Jean Mercier. And he _is_ in league with Team Rocket."

"So what have you been doing all this time?" Ash asked.

"I've primarily been a scout, studying various potential recruits and threats. I then report on their viability as potential allies or enemies."

"So why does this Master Hand want to know about Team Rocket?"

"It's not Team Rocket he, or rather, the Subspace Army is interested in; it's the Pokémon."

"Why?"

"Have you ever seen what a Pokémon can do if its power is truly unleashed? Some Pokémon, like Tyranitar, can change the landscape with their attacks. A Dragon Rage from a Gyarados can level a city. Charizards can unintentionally cause forest fires, melt boulders, and also melt small glaciers that weigh up to ten thousand tons. And there are Pokémon that can resist that level of power. And this is before we start talking about the Legendaries or Mega Evolution. Now think of what would happen if the Subspace Army started having that kind of firepower with its front line cannon fodder troops, especially if some of them could Mega Evolve."

"I'd rather not." Ash then thought about things for a moment before asking, "So why now? Why not come here before Team Rocket started having issues?"

"Because I did my best to keep Earth off of the Subspace Army's radar, which is hard since the Subspace Army supported Cyrus by giving him those two Arceus trophies during the Galactic Federation Civil War and so many of the Chosen Heroes come from Earth, particularly the stronger and/or more dangerous ones."

"So _that's_ how Cyrus came so close to accomplishing his goals!" Ash said with realization. He had not played any major part in the war, still traveling from region to region at the time, but he had heard enough on the news channels to know that Cyrus had come back and that he had been looking for something. Only after the war had ended was it revealed just how close he had come to actually accomplishing his goals and destroying the Earth at the very least.

"In addition, Master Hand also does not want any harm to come to Earth," John continued. "He's on our side, even if he is being forced to work against us, even if it means fighting us."

"Does Master Hand know what your true allegiance is?"

John nodded. "His showing me what was happening with you, Delia, and Mia was not just for recruitment purposes. He wanted me to do what I could to protect you two as well. You and Mia are very important, not only to me, but on the whole. There's a lot more to talk about, a lot more that you will need to know, and I know you don't have the time. You want to go find Mia and save her, so I'll just say this. Should you succeed in stopping Team Rocket, you, and likely Mia, as well as your friends, are probably going to be invited to the Super Smash Brothers tournament. Don't go. It's a trap."

The warning took Ash aback. "What is the tournament in the first place?"

"It is a tournament where you fight using a variety of rules. The magic of the realm and the rules forbid you from actually killing your opponent, and protects you from dying, too. That's all I can say on the subject for now." He was about to let Ash go when he suddenly remembered something and reached into his pocket. He soon retrieved a glowing yellow ball that Ash recognized as a Light Ball. "Here Ash. Before you go, take this."

Ash's eyes went wide. "Wow, that's a Light Ball!"

"Yes," John said, nodding. "It'll double Pikachu's Attack and Special Attack. You'll need it if you're going to infiltrate Team Rocket's base."

Ash then took the ball and placed it into his pocket. He then looked around and saw that the cabin seemed empty, save for Pikachu, who was now resting in a corner. He looked glumly at Pikachu and then at his father. Noticing the change in Ash's expression, John asked, "What is it Ash?"

Ash heaved a sigh before eventually giving his answer. "I'm not sure if I can do this," he eventually said, falling back down onto the pillow and staring up at the ceiling. "I mean I know I have powerful friends, but I'm not Mia. I'm not a superhero in the form of a normal human."

"No," John answered, causing Ash to turn to face him, his surprise being evident on his face. "You're you. And that's all you need to be."

"But the reason Mia's missing or dead is because I failed," Ash blurted. "She hit Azelf to keep him from hurting or killing me. Before that happened, we were at the least holding our own against Team Rocket and the Pokémon League, even though she was doing a lot of the heavy lifting."

"And you weren't doing your part?" John asked skeptically, knowing that Ash was in the thick of the battling, too. "I know that you were in the thick of it, Ash. It's who you are."

"Not like Mia," the boy answered, shaking his head. "Mia was fighting directly as well. I was just giving orders to my Pokémon…friends," he added quickly. "Mia would never forgive me if I didn't add that," he muttered under his breath with a chuckle, which could be heard by his father.

"No, she wouldn't," his father answered with a chuckle of his own.

Ash then frowned again. "Which is why she's better than I am," he concluded.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Mia's a warrior," came Ash's answer. "She will fight to the end, and she will win that fight. She was way better than me in the physical fight in our battle. If we both had gone all out, I would have lost. More than that, she's also ruthless. I think that Team Rocket knows that, too, which is why they targeted me in the fight on the helipad of Team Rocket Headquarters. They knew that any fight against Mia would have at best an uncertain outcome, but if they could get her to take a hit for me, they could beat her that way. They know that even if I survive, that I'm beatable and that I don't have Mia's ruthlessness. I won't go for the kill; she would. She had an opportunity to kill Giovanni and _I_ stopped her. Had I not done so, she likely would not have been captured and possibly killed. Mom, May, Dawn, and Tracey would also have not been captured."

"Do you know that for certain?" John challenged. "Team Rocket had the support of the Pokémon League as well. Even if Giovanni fell, it would have still been an uphill battle."

Ash thought about his father's question and statement before answering, "Not for certain, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure that things would have been different if I had let Mia take out Giovanni."

"Yes, they would be different," John admitted. "But that does not mean that things wouldn't be better for Team Rocket. Think about it. Team Rocket thinks they know you. They think you're weak and stupid. You'll just have to show them how wrong they are," John answered in an encouraging tone, trying to raise his son's spirits.

Ash gave a smile as he sat up. "I'll do my best," he said, nodding. He then looked back down and added, "But I'm still not Mia," he added in a melancholy tone.

"And that's your primary edge," John told him.

"Huh?"

"Team Rocket may have been mutilated repeatedly by Mia, but that also caused them to have a singular focus: taking down Mia, and _only_ Mia. It blinded them to other threats, threats such as Ethan and Lyra from Johto," Ash's father explained. "They managed to stop a number of Team Rocket's plots in Johto because Team Rocket did not view them as a threat. If we're lucky, Team Rocket will believe that you died in the collapse of Team Rocket Headquarters. We can use that to blindside them. They think that you're not as strong as Mia. This will be your chance to show them how wrong they are."

"But I don't what happened to my other Pokémon friends," Ash said, beginning to worry. "I've only seen Pikachu and Charizard. Who else is here?"

"Greninja, Krookodile, and Mia's Tyranitar brought you here," John answered.

"So I've only got Pikachu, Charizard, Greninja, Krookodile, and Mia's Tyranitar," Ash sighed, taking stock of the situation and confirming what he already knew: that the upcoming conflict would be an uphill battle.

"But Charizard can Mega Evolve, can he not?" John asked knowingly.

Ash nodded.

"Then you've got what amounts to a Legendary Pokémon on your team, plus another who can beat Legendaries in Tyranitar. Heck, Charizard has already beaten Legendary Pokémon even without Mega Evolution."

"Okay," Ash said skeptically, wondering what his father was getting at.

"And your other Pokémon friends are also pretty strong and versatile as well. Both Greninja and Krookodile are part Dark-type Pokémon. That gives them a type advantage over a number of Legendary Pokémon that we know Team Rocket has such as the Lake Guardians or the Eon Duo. They also have an edge over two of the Legendary Birds and two of the Legendary Beasts. And that is just two Pokémon, and not even your strongest. Don't sell yourself short. You have the pieces to beat Team Rocket and you also have the skill to do so, too. Don't forget that you tied with Mia in the actual Pokémon battle. She did _not_ hold back in that fight."

Ash was skeptical of that assessment but he did not say anything. He then looked around and noticed that only Pikachu and Charizard were present.

"Speaking of the other Pokémon, where are they?" he asked wondering where the others were.

"Tyranitar, Greninja, and Krookodile are outside keeping watch in case Team Rocket starts searching for us. I saw to their needs and gave them all Max Revives and Max Elixirs. They should be fully healed and ready for battle when it comes."

Ash then got up out of the bed and went over to Pikachu and pet him gently, awakening the electric mouse from his nap. Pikachu awakened and soon saw Ash standing over him, smiling. The mouse sprang up and jumped into Ash's arms, crying, "Pikapi!"

Ash laughed as he hugged Pikachu and saw that he was okay. Charizard also came over to support Ash. While Ash was catching up with Pikachu and Charizard, John went over to the door and alerted the others to the fact that Ash was awake. They came storming into the hut, Greninja and Krookodile coming over to him to check up on him to make sure that everything really was okay. Tyranitar stood off at a distance and crossed his arms, skeptical of Ash and his ability. Ash looked over at the large Rock/Dark-type Pokémon and gave a melancholy smile. He knew that Tyranitar was feeling the loss of Mia almost as keenly as he and John were. He went over to Tyranitar and told him, "Don't worry Tyranitar. We'll find Mia and save her, no matter the cost."

Tyranitar gave a grunt and nodded. He then roared and beat his chest with his own fist, a declaration to the world that nothing would stop him from finding and rescuing Mia. Ash smiled at the Pokémon's enthusiasm and he steeled his resolve to find Mia, save her, and destroy Team Rocket once and for all. There would be no remnants for the organization to regroup around this time. At the end of the day, all of Team Rocket would either be in prison or dead, a dark part of him hoping that it would be the latter for all of them. His own Pokémon friends soon formed up next to Tyranitar, forming a formidable team of five Pokémon; one short of a full team but still a force to be reckoned with. Before he went to leave, though, he went to get his backpack and see what he had left in it. Upon opening it, he saw that it was practically empty. Going over to his father, he asked, "Could I have some potions and elixirs for the Pokémon? We'll need everything we can get if we're going to defeat Team Rocket and save our family."

John smiled and went over to his bag and opened it, showing Ash what could only be described as a mini-Poké Mart. "Take as much as you need; I've got no use for them," he offered.

Ash smiled and took everything he would need for the mission in case the worst-case scenario occurred. He filled his bag with potions, revives, and elixirs until it was about to burst. Before he went to leave, though, he turned back once more to his father. A sad and regretful look crossed John's face as looked on as his son was about to embark on another adventure. "I wish I could go with you, Ash, but if any Rockets manage to elude capture, they'll be the first ones that the Subspace Army will wish to recruit. Besides, I know that my commanding officer, so to speak, a man named Ganondorf, is also on Earth. If he knows that I'm helping you, it could spell disaster for you and Mia as well as me. Even though he has no wish to see Team Rocket emerge victorious and rule the world, if he saw me helping you, he would almost certainly become suspicious of me, especially since he's already accused me of sleeping on the job."

Ash nodded. "I understand Dad."

"That means that you'll have to do something before you leave."

"What is it?"

"Have Pikachu use Thunderbolt on me and knock me unconscious," John answered, drawing a gasp from Ash.

"Knock you out?" Ash managed to gasp, shocked at what his father was asking him to do.

"It's the only way to ensure that Ganondorf and the Subspace Army don't get suspicious of my true motives should they see me seemingly helping you," John answered. "This way, I'll be able to explain how you managed to get a Light Ball plus a dossier on the persons of interest that the Subspace Army is looking in on if they somehow discover that you got a dossier on the Chosen Heroes as well as members of the Subspace Army. I hope that they don't discover that you have _that_ , though."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, nodding.

"Be careful, Ash," John said, sighing. "Ganondorf seems to have detected another presence on world and I think that it may be involved with Team Rocket. Be careful in your travels."

"I will Dad," Ash assured his father. "And thanks for the heads up, Dad," Ash added, smiling. He then made his final checks on everything from his supplies to the health of his Pokémon. Once that was finished, he was ready to depart. Before leaving, though, he turned back to his father and said, "Father, I always felt as if I knew that what I had been told about you, and what was in my memories was false, somehow. I always had the feeling that you were not the man who was said to have abandoned Mom and me when I was young. Good luck. And stay alive."

John smiled at his son. "I'll try. And thanks. Oh, and one more thing," he added.

"What is it?"

He handed Ash the pendant that he had used on him, along with a vial of water and told him, "These are the Pendant of Memories and the Sacred Water I used to cure you of your condition. If you find Mia, use these items to heal her if needed."

Ash nodded and accepted the items. He then took a deep breath as he glanced back at his father, who nodded at him. "It's time, Ash," his father told him. "Make it look good."

Ash nodded and then turned to Pikachu. That was when he gave his command. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on my father. Make it strong enough to knock him unconscious, but not strong enough to permanently injure him."

"Pika?" Pikachu gasped as he stared at Ash, incredulous at the fact that Ash would give such a command. Ash's other Pokémon and Tyranitar looked at the boy, their expressions mirroring that of Pikachu.

"I know," Ash told Pikachu, casting his gaze downward. "I don't like it anymore than you."

"You must do it, Pikachu," John insisted forcefully. "We can't make it look like you managed to get all of the items and the Light Ball without a fight. My orders were to secure troops for the Subspace Army. I can use that as an excuse for why I helped you. I can tell them that you did not wish to let Ash come with me so you stunned me and fled with Ash when he realized what was going on. If you leave without doing this, my cover may very well be blown."

Eventually, Pikachu nodded and his cheeks began to crackle with electricity. Ash then commanded in a loud voice, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu obeyed Ash and unleashed the Thunderbolt on John. The bolt of lightning struck John and electricity arced across his body, the man's body seizing up as he gritted his teeth, keeping himself from screaming or even growling or groaning. Soon, the man fell to the ground, unconscious. Once that was finished, Ash told the Pokémon, "Come on, let's go. We have to be far away from here when he wakes up, to maintain the illusion."

The Pokémon nodded and Ash proceeded to exit the small hut and follow the trail away from the hut, followed closely by his Pokémon. They continued to run for several minutes until they felt as if they were a safe distance away from the hut. Once they were far enough away, Ash took out his Light Ball and handed it to Pikachu, telling him, "Hold onto this, Pikachu. This will help you power up your attacks."

Pikachu gladly accepted the Light Ball and he put it around his neck on a necklace. Once they were fully ready, Ash and the others proceeded to make their way through the forest to follow the trail back to the Pokémon Village.

Meanwhile, back at the hut, John eventually awakened from Pikachu's Thunderbolt. Once he awakened, he looked around to make sure that Ash and the others were safely away. Seeing that there was no sign of Ash, he slammed his fists into the ground, feigning disgust and anger, but was inwardly smiling and hoping that Ash would succeed in his mission. He then stood up so he could make his report to Master Hand, but before he could leave, he heard a chuckle come from in the woods.

"Finally awake, huh?" the familiar voice of Ganondorf said, greeting him.

John suppressed a groan as he turned to face the Gerudo king. "How long have you been standing there?"

"A few minutes," the Gerudo king answered casually. "What happened?"

"The boy escaped!" John roared.

"Boy?" Ganondorf asked almost in shock. "You tried to seduce the boy to our side?"

"Why not? Team Rocket captured Leaf. He may be second-best, but he's still a Champion who has strong Pokémon."

"That's true," Ganondorf admitted. The Gerudo king then grinned and gave a chuckle.

"What are you doing here, Ganon?" John grunted in question, only half feigning disgust.

"I'm here to get you," the Gerudo king answered. "Master Hand wants us to make our reports." He then gave another chuckle. "You know, for someone who was sent here to secure troops for the Subspace Army, you're not doing a good job. _I've_ done better than you in that regard, if what just happened to you is any indication."

"What do you mean?" John grunted.

"Heh, heh, heh. You'll see," Ganondorf answered as he opened a purple vortex. He then motioned for John to go through, saying, "After you."

John grunted again as he made his way towards the portal. He then stepped through, followed closely by Ganondorf.

On the other side of the portal, John found himself in a field on Smash World. He looked around and the world appeared to be unoccupied at first. However, he soon saw what looked to be a girl standing in the middle of the field. Ganondorf came up from behind and chuckled. "As you can see, I've got a soldier for our little army. And you'll find that she will be quite a powerful addition to our army."

"Who is she?"

"Let's find out," Ganondorf answered with a chuckle. He then raised his and called, "Come!"

The girl turned and began to walk towards Ganondorf. As she approached, John thought that he could recognize her. It was not until she was only a few dozen yards away that he suddenly realized that the girl was none other than Mia. His eyes went wide and his mouth was agape. "Mia," he stammered.

"I take it you know the girl," Ganondorf stated smugly.

"How did you find her?" John asked, barely able to ask the question in an even tone.

"I found her outside of Team Rocket Headquarters in Mahogany Town in Johto," Ganondorf answered. "She has no memory of who she is. This will make her a perfect addition for the Subspace Army. As for you, Master Hand wishes to talk to you right now."

John grunted as Ganondorf focused his gaze on him. He wanted to go to Mia but if he let Ganondorf know of his connection to her, she would be used as leverage over him, assuming Ganondorf did not already know about his connection to her. As such, he obeyed Ganondorf and went to make his report to Master Hand while Ganondorf went over to Mia. Mia looked over at John as he departed and asked, "Lord Ganondorf, who is that?"

"A lieutenant in the Subspace Army," the Gerudo king answered. "He's an ally. Why?"

"Oh," the girl answered. "I just thought that I recognized him when I saw him. What is his name?"

"John," the Gerudo king answered. "And he came here a few years ago. I doubt that you know him all that well," the king said, making certain to leave himself an out if she ever discovered who John was to her. "Anyway, we must continue. The spell that I am going to use on you will help you recover your memories. While the Lake Guardians can suppress your memories and seemingly wipe your mind, they cannot actually destroy them. All we have to do is piece them back together once more."

The girl nodded. "When do we begin?"

Ganondorf then grinned. "Right now."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Mia quickly found herself staring out over a blank white expanse that extended as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if she were in an area of nothingness. Soon, there was a swirl of activity and color and everything began to change. She looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. After a while, everything began to come into focus and she could see herself standing inside a small building. It more strongly resembled a metallic hut. It was sparsely furnished with only a single wooden table in the center of the room with a single chair pulled up to it. She thought that she recognized the building but could not put a name to it.

She saw several Team Rocket Grunts and Agents ushering children into a corner close to two Kadabras and an Alakazam. There were thirteen children in all. She figured that her younger self would make an even fourteen. She had a feeling that the Pokémon were going to be used to teleport the children to a different location, which they did. There was a clap of air as one of the Kadabras then vanished, along with seven of the children. The remaining children all gasped at the sight, not knowing whether or not the others were dead. They breathed a sigh of relief when the Kadabra reappeared next to them with another clap. That relief would be short-lived, though, as the Kadabra then teleported them to the same location as the other children.

She heard the sounds of footfalls coming from behind as well as the screaming of a child, recognizing the voice as resembling her own. Looking back, she saw a Rocket carrying what looked to be a younger version of herself over his shoulder as he shoved the door open with his foot.

"Ready our defenses," the Rocket cried quickly. "We're gonna have company!"

"What's wrong?"

"What do you think?" came the response in a roar.

All throughout the short exchange, Mia's younger self was screaming, yelling, "Help! I've been kidnapped by Team Rocket! Kill them!"

The 'kill them' cry uttered by the younger Mia seemed to unnerve the Rocket carrying her as he visibly shook at the cry, and not only due to its volume, which only prompted a frown from the other Rocket. Had they been able to see the girl's icy blue eyes, they would have seen nothing but murderous intent. She wanted to kill them and she would certainly give it her best effort if they gave her half a chance.

"Come on, girl, stop yelling," the first Rocket commanded her.

"Help! Kill the Rocket!" she only cried all the louder.

She then slammed her fists into the Rocket Grunt's back, doing her best to hurt him but all it seemed to do was annoy him.

"Stop!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

"No!" Young Mia screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Come on you fool, give her to me so we can take her to Celadon City," the Rocket Agent commanded the Grunt as the Grunt rushed over to the two Kadabras and the Alakazam.

The Grunt did not have to be asked twice as he handed the screaming girl off to the Agent. The Agent carried the girl over to the Alakazam and told it, "Take us to Celadon City at once!"

"Kazam," the Alakazam answered, nodding.

Just as the Alakazam was about to teleport Young Mia out of there, the hut's door was blown off of its hinges and a man with a Charizard and an Espeon came surging through. Mia wondered how she recognized the names of the Pokémon as Charizard and Espeon, and recognized that the dragon was Charizard and the cat-like Pokémon was Espeon. She shook off the feeling as she focused back on the action.

"Daddy!" Young Mia cried with delight as she saw the man storm into the hut. This caused the dreaming Mia to go on alert and take notice of what she saw. "Kill them, Daddy," she heard her younger self half-command.

She looked at the man as Charizard and Espeon used Flamethrower and Shadow Ball to destroy the two Kadabras, prompting both Young Mia and Dreaming Mia to grin. Dreaming Mia then went to look at her father straight in the eyes, but when she saw him, his face looked distorted and she was unable to make out any features. It was as if his face were being distorted by the recording, itself, almost as if it was intent on keeping her from being able to remember what he looked like. She grimaced as she focused back on the battle. Before her father and his Pokémon could initiate an attack on the Alakazam and the Rocket holding Young Mia, Alakazam vanished from the scene, along with Young Mia. The last thing she remembered hearing before the world turned to white was the Rocket Grunt crying, "Wait, don't leave me here with him!"

When the world re-formed, Mia found herself standing in a bare classroom with a map of the world on a wall and a desk close to the wall. There were over two-dozen children standing in the room in ranks. There were no desks in the room so all the children could do was stand. There were also no less than a dozen Rocket Grunts and Agents spread throughout the room with each exit being covered by two Rockets, each of who held two Poké Balls in their hands, ready to deploy them. Mia found her younger self standing in the front row of children, scowling at the instructor, a muscled man who had a purple mohawk and was wearing a black Team Rocket uniform with two gold bars on each shoulder.

"Alright you worms, listen up. You've been selected to become agents of Team Rocket. My name is Viper and I'm your special drill instructor. So listen up and do exactly what I say or else, there'll be consequences."

"What sort of consequences, Sergeant Overgrown Punk," Young Mia scoffed, showing nothing but utter contempt as she crossed her arms and gave a contemptuous grin.

Viper gritted his teeth and rushed over to the girl to punch her in the abdomen in order to show the penalty for disobedience, but when he reached her, she ducked to the side, sticking out her leg, causing the large Rocket to trip over it and crash into the ground with a thud and a grunt. Young Mia then raised her leg and brought it down onto the back of Viper's leg just behind the knee. The Rocket gave a loud howl of agony as the sound of tearing muscle could be heard. Young Mia examined her handiwork and grinned.

"Wow, you really showed me," Young Mia mocked.

That brought an immediate response from four other Rockets as they charged her and went to punch her in the abdomen. The young girl managed to avoid the first punch and thrust out her leg as she kicked one of the Rockets in the knee, causing him to howl in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his knee. Another Rocket reached for her and attempted to grab her to accost her, only to bend down too far and allow her to jab her hand into his throat, immediately causing him to recoil and clutch his throat as he suddenly struggled to breathe. The other two Rockets managed to connect with their punches, both hitting her in the abdomen, forcing her to expel the air in her lungs, and knocked her to the ground. One of the Rockets immediately jumped on her and pinned her to the ground while the other stood over her to cover his partner.

The girl struggled against the superior weight of the Rocket but was not about to surrender. The Rocket gave a grunt of satisfaction as he pinned her and leered at the girl, moving his hands to caress her body, a huge mistake on his part, for it freed the girl's hands, which immediately shot up into his throat with blinding speed. The Rocket instantly rolled off of her, grasping at his throat, gasping for air as she shot up to face the next wave of Rockets.

However, when she rose, she was met not with a wave of Rockets coming at her, but with each of the guards having drawn their guns and pointing them at the other children, half of who were staring at her in shock at her defiance, strength, and skill, while the others were cowering and even crying as the Rockets motioned as if they were about to pull the trigger. They also had their Pokémon deployed, mostly Koffings and Grimers, but they also had a few Muks, Weezings, and even a couple Magnemites and a Magneton, a Pokémon that was, in essence, three Magnemites joined together; one on top and two on the bottom in a triangle formation. The Electric-types were already powering their attacks and ready to launch. The warning from the Rockets was clear.

"Cease this insubordination now, or the others will suffer the consequences," one of the Rocket Grunts demanded, placing the barrel of his gun on the head of his hostage, an eight year old girl with brown hair and green eyes.

Young Mia got the message and scowled but she offered no further resistance. As they went to grip her by her arms, she told them, "Just remember that it was _me_ that resisted. Don't punish them for _my_ misbehavior."

"If you behave, you won't have to worry about that," the Rocket answered.

As they went to push Young Mia back in line, another Rocket took out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Chansey, who cried its name upon emerging from its Poké Ball. Chansey examined the scene and gave a shocked expression. "Chansey, use Soft-Boiled on the injured Rockets now," the Grunt demanded.

Chansey nodded and said its name once more before it used Soft-Boiled to heal the injured Rockets. Chansey first healed Viper, an egg leaping from the egg in Chansey's pouch and landing on the injured Rocket. The sounds of the tendons reconnecting to the knee bone could be heard and the Rocket gave a grunt in pain as he was being healed. After a few seconds, though, the process was completed and the Rocket was fully healed. Chansey then did the same for the other Rockets, each of who gave grunts of discomfort as they were being healed before sighing in relief as they were healed of the injuries inflicted by the eight year old girl.

As soon as the Rockets were healed, Chansey slumped forward, having given much of its own health to heal the injured Rockets. The Grunt that had deployed the Chansey then took out his whip and whipped the Pokémon, lashing it across the back, prompting it to cry out in pain, and both Dreaming Mia and Young Mia's eyes to go wide with shock. The Rocket Grunt gave a sadistic grin. "Don't go dyin' on us now, Chansey. You've got more subjects to heal."

"Wait!" Young Mia blurted in protest at the treatment of Chansey. "What are you doing?"

"Chansey showed weakness by letting us see its fatigue after healing the injured Rockets," the Rocket Grunt answered. "And because I felt like it," the Rocket added with a note of sadism.

Young Mia gritted her teeth and went to charge towards the Rocket but was stopped when she saw the other Rockets still threatening the other children. Even worse was what they might do to that Chansey. "You've got no one to blame but yourself, pretty thing," the Rocket mocked. "If you hadn't injured us, we'd have never needed to use Chansey. And then Chansey wouldn't have exposed its weakness to us this way." He then held up his hands in a shrug. "Ah well, that's life. Just remember what resistance will get you, or should I say, everyone you care about." The threat was not lost on Young Mia. As such, she simply slumped forward and looked down at the ground, gritting her teeth, refusing to meet the leers of the Rockets. She looked over at the Chansey and gave a sympathetic look at it as the Rocket Grunt recalled the Pokémon.

Viper soon took back his position in the front of the room and he bellowed, "Okay maggots, on this map is the location of your quarters. Inside the quarters is an itinerary of the events for the day. It will be updated daily. When you are dismissed, you are to go directly to your quarters. Understand?"

"Yes sir," every child except for Young Mia answered.

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes sir!" every child except for Young Mia cried in answer.

"Dismissed!"

Then, each of the children filed out of the room. Dreaming Mia expected the world to go white for a second but it did not. Something then drew her attention to a box overlooking the classroom arena. She immediately found herself being whisked to the room and saw a tall man with short brown hair, black eyes dressed in a yellow shirt with an orange sport coat and pants overlooking the scene below. Next to him were two Rocket Executives whose faces Dreaming Mia recognized as being high-ranking Rockets, did not remember as being named Archer and Ariana.

"So, what do you think sir?" Archer asked.

"She's perfect," Giovanni said his mouth agape in awe at the scene as Young Mia glared at each of the Rockets as she filed out of the room.

"Which one?" came Archer's next question.

"-," Giovanni answered. The answer sounded garbled to Dreaming Mia's ears and she could not make out what the Team Rocket Boss had said, something that puzzled, and also troubled, her.

"But she's rebellious and has no respect for our authority," Ariana interjected. "You saw what she did to Viper and the others just now. She hates Team Rocket and her ability to hurt our Grunts and Agents will only embolden her during later acts of defiance."

"Then we will have to use alternative means of convincing her to join Team Rocket," Giovanni retorted. "Right now, the girl is angry and confused. And who can blame her. She was forced to sing, something she hates, by her mother at a concert, kidnapped by us because she saved her twin brother. She does not know the fate of her father, the only person who actively tried to save her. But still, you saw her. She is strong, cunning, and ruthless. She would be the perfect Team Rocket Agent. And if we can convince her to actually love Team Rocket, she could make a good Executive, too." That last statement caused the two current Rocket Executives to shudder.

"Very well," both Rocket Executives stated. "We'll do it your way." There was a pause before Ariana asked, "But how do you plan on convincing her to join us?"

Giovanni grinned. "That's easy." There was a beat before he finished, "Tell her the truth. We will mold her into our image for her. We will indoctrinate her, train her, shape her, form her into the perfect Rocket. And when we are finished, she will be our ultimate weapon against the Pokémon League, as well as any others that would dare oppose us."

As the image faded out, Dreaming Mia could see the skeptical looks on the faces of Ariana and Archer. Giovanni did not seem to notice his subordinates' misgivings as he merely grinned at the scene below as the world faded to white for Dreaming Mia.

When the world came back into focus for the dreaming girl, what she saw next could only be a montage of events that likely spanned at least months, if not over a year. In one scene, she saw herself in a white gi with a red R on it, training with Viper, practicing martial arts, first against a practice dummy, and secondly, against trained black belts, none of who were below the age of eighteen. Young Mia's punches, open palm strikes, and kicks were clean, crisp, bringing a stunned look from Viper and other onlookers, including the newly inducted Jessie, James, Meowth, Butch, and Cassidy. As Dreaming Mia noticed Butch and Cassidy, she gave a grim grin as she remembered how she slaughtered them in her more recent escape from Team Rocket. Later, she would spar in full contact fights against the black belts and even against Viper, himself, and she at the very least held her own against them, even managing to beat a couple of the younger ones. It was clear to the Rockets that she had already had some formal training, and that she likely also had some more military oriented training.

When the sparring match was over, Young Mia bowed to her opponents, one of who made the mistake of trying to attack her while she was bowing. Instead, she raised her arm and deflected the kick while thrusting her fist into the groin of the foolish Rocket black belt, causing his eyes to bug out in agony as he moaned, clutching his groin as he collapsed onto the ground, writhing and howling in agony. Young Mia bowed again to her opponent, this time, a dark grin was plastered onto her face as she then raised her eyes to meet those of her other opponents, as if daring them to try to sneak attack her. This only brought a set of applause from Giovanni, who was standing in a shadow in the corner, emerging from the shadows as the battle ended. Young Mia turned to face him and bowed towards him as well, keeping her eyes trained on him, her satisfied grin clearly showing for the Rocket Boss.

"Excellent work -," there was that static when he should have said her name once again. "You have become even more impressive than I believed you would."

"Thank you, sir," Young Mia answered evenly, though Dreaming Mia knew that her younger self was thinking of nothing more than how to escape Team Rocket, and she was already formulating a plan on how to do just that.

In another scene, she found herself in an indoctrination center along with two-dozen other children her age and older. They were being directed to control Pokémon during battle. Oftentimes, there would be Pokémon who had a distinct type advantage over another used in the battles. In this case, it was a Bulbasaur, the first-stage evolution of Venusaur. It looked like a small Venusaur with a large green bulb on its back, rather than a plant or tree. It was being sent up against a Shellder, a black pearl-like Pokémon encased in a bluish violet bivalve shell. Shellder was a Water-type Pokémon so it was at a disadvantage against the Grass/Poison-type Bulbasaur, but it could learn Ice-type attacks, which _could_ inflict super effective damage to Bulbasaur. Whenever a Pokémon would disobey a command given by the Trainer, even if the eventual result was desirable, the children were to punish the Pokémon by whipping them with a whip. In this case, one of the children, a ten year old girl with red hair and green eyes was facing off against Young Mia. The girl commanded Shellder while Young Mia was in command of Bulbasaur commanded, "Shellder, use Clamp!"

Shellder, knowing that it would have to get close to use Clamp, a Water-type move which in and of itself was not very effective against Bulbasaur and open itself up to taking a beating from an assortment of ranged attacks that Bulbasaur could use on it, and that the ruthless Mia would gladly direct it to use, decided to use Icicle Spear instead, a move that while weaker in base power than Clamp, was fired in a barrage so it could hit Bulbasaur multiple times. Not only that, but it was also a ranged attack so it would not leave Shellder nearly as open to Bulbasaur's counterattack.

Spears of ice formed on the spikes on top of Shellder's shell and they were immediately propelled towards the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. Young Mia merely grinned and told Bulbasaur, "Bulbasaur, go evasive. Make yourself difficult to hit and do that whenever the enemy attacks. Once you find an opening, use Sleep Powder!"

Bulbasaur followed Young Mia's commands just as she had hoped, immediately going evasive on Shellder's Icicle Spear. Young Mia's opponent was not thrilled, either with her Shellder or at how difficult Mia was making it for her to hit Bulbasaur. In her experience, Trainers would allow their Pokémon to take hits in order to better position themselves to attack. Still, Young Mia had given her all the information she needed. All she needed to do was to keep Bulbasaur from being able to attack, and she figured that Clamp would do so, especially if the clam-like Pokémon could clamp onto Bulbasaur's bulb and shut it off.

"Shellder, this time, use Clamp so that Bulbasaur won't be able to attack or evade!"

The girl got out a whip but did not whip the Pokémon for its previous insubordination. That would come later. All that mattered now was beating her opponent. That would be next to impossible, though, for she did not take into account the fact that Bulbasaur, while still going evasive, would be able to release a massive cloud of Sleep Powder while Shellder closed in on him, which he did. The massive blue cloud of dust emerged from Bulbasaur's bulb and blanketed the entire area with Sleep Powder, Young Mia being careful to avoid the cloud. As Shellder was only a few feet away from Bulbasaur, it took in a noticeably large dose of the powder and immediately fell asleep, its eyes closing and the Pokémon beginning to snore, leaving the Pokémon open to any number of attacks. And Bulbasaur and Young Mia instantly took advantage of the situation.

"Bulbasaur, use Leech Seed and then Giga Drain on Shellder," she commanded in an even voice. "Don't hold back, and don't stop until it's fainted."

Bulbasaur nodded and began the assault by firing a series of seeds from its bulb onto Shellder. The seeds made contact with the clam-like Pokémon and immediately sprouted vines that surrounded the Pokémon and began to drain it of its energy, transferring the energy to Bulbasaur in the process, though Bulbasaur was still fresh. Bulbasaur then used Giga Drain on Shellder. Energy beams immediately shot forth from the bulb and lashed out at the sleeping Pokémon. Once they made contact with Shellder, they began to siphon all of its energy to Bulbasaur. Even though Bulbasaur was at full health, Giga Drain still inflicted its full damage to Shellder. In addition, since it was a special attack, Bulbasaur could put more power behind the move. That, along with Shellder's weak Special Defense allowed Bulbasaur to make short work of Shellder. The Pokémon did not even get a chance to wake up before it fainted and was unable to battle, prompting the Rocket referee to declare, "Shellder is unable to battle. Bulbasaur is the winner!"

Bulbasaur immediately ran back to Young Mia and leapt into her arms, Mia catching him and exclaiming, "Oh yeah, you rock Bulbasaur!" as she spun him around before hugging him some more and putting him back down, smiling all the while.

Mia's opponent, however, was not happy, nor was she as kind to Shellder. "Blithering fool! I lost that fight because of your stupidity!" she screamed as she went over and kicked Shellder away from her, sending it flying into the air, the Pokémon landing a few feet away on its head. Shellder saw the girl coming at it, whip in hand, lashing it at the ground, the cracks of the whip echoing throughout the room, and it closed its shell. Dreaming Mia thought that she could hear the Pokémon whimpering, dreading the abuse that would be hurled against it. Most of the other children and onlookers grinned as the girl neared the Pokémon, all save for Young Mia and a couple of others. As the girl arrived and raised her whip to bring it down on the Pokémon for losing the battle, Young Mia interspersed herself between the two, much to the surprise of the Pokémon, the girl, the onlookers, and to the dread of the Rockets.

"Oh crap," one of them swore. "She's gonna stick up for Shellder. What're we gonna do now?"

"Why are you about to whip your Pokémon when it was _your_ mistake that cost you the fight?" Young Mia began. The other girl merely scowled and seethed at being lectured by a girl that was even younger than she was. "Your strategy stunk, Mariah. Shellder's plan was actually pretty sound. It knew that Bulbasaur had a type advantage against it so its only real chance was to use an attack that Bulbasaur was vulnerable to. Icicle Spear was that attack. Ice Shard may have inflicted some damage since it's fast, but Icicle Spear fires a barrage of, well, icicle spears. Ice Shard would not be strong enough to take down Bulbasaur and Giga Drain would just heal him anyway, so Shellder went with the plan that had the highest chance of success. It just didn't work. If you want to blame anyone, blame whoever set up this battle. This was a mismatch from the beginning. Shellder actually did better than I would have expected."

Young Mia's explanation, however, fell on deaf ears and Mariah continued towards the Pokémon, prompting Mia to move to intercept the girl. "Get out of the way now, or else," Mariah threatened.

"No," Young Mia retorted harshly as she assumed a fighter's stance. "Shellder did nothing wrong and isn't deserving of punishment. If you want to vent, vent on me. I'm the one who beat you."

Young Mia then stood there, glaring at Mariah, holding her arms out, barring the girl's way to Shellder. Mariah looked over to the other Rockets, who were preparing to go for their weapons if things got out of hand. Focusing on Young Mia, Mariah knew that if it came down to a fight that she would lose, horribly. Young Mia had embarrassed grown men during her time with Team Rocket, and rumor had it that she had even killed some Rockets during her kidnapping. Still, Mariah had one thing that Young Mia did not: a whip.

Mariah grinned as she raised the whip to bring it down on either Mia or the Shellder, who was barely recovering to the point where it could move once more. Young Mia raised her arm and intercepted the whip, the end of it curling around her arm. The crack could be heard but Mia did not appear to be bleeding, the only sign of discomfort being a grimace from the inhumanly courageous and strong-willed child. Mariah grimaced and then pulled on her whip, hoping to pull the younger girl off balance. However, Young Mia did not budge and only responded in kind, causing Mariah to lose her balance and let go of the whip to keep herself from falling. Young Mia then unwrapped the whip from her arm and curled it up in her hand, staring at the girl, who had lost her weapon.

Before things could get further out of hand and degenerate into an actual fight, four Rockets interposed themselves between the two girls, one for Mariah and three for Young Mia. "Stop this now!" they all commanded.

"She started it!" Mariah retorted in almost a whiny tone.

"She blamed Shellder for her own screw up and circumstances," Young Mia seethed in a low, cold voice. "Shellder was put in a no-win scenario. It should not be blamed for the outcome since its plan of attack had the best chance of success given the situation and tools at each of our disposal."

The Rockets were shocked at the courage the girl showed and that she gave a good reason for why Shellder not only lost, but also did not even have a realistic shot at winning. "Quite right, Ketchum," the lead Rocket stated. Dreaming Mia was quick to note that the word 'Ketchum' was not garbled. She wondered for a split second if that was her name. She would figure it out later. First, she needed to see the rest of the memory. "Shellder did not have a realistic shot at victory against a skilled Trainer who knew what he or she was doing."

"Then why did you have this test in the first place?" Mariah roared. "She's the best Trainer of all of us!"

Dreaming Mia was almost certain of the answer, as was Young Mia, but the Rocket still said, "It was to see how you would react in what was a no-win scenario and how you would take a loss. Also, it was also designed to teach the other Trainer to not get arrogant in battle. Type advantages are important, but look at how Ketchum knew right off the bat that Shellder was likely going to use a move that would have a type advantage over Bulbasaur. She also deduced what move was likely to be used given the movesets, evolutionary level, as well as the technical aspects of the moves that were likely to be used against Bulbasaur, as well as the moves that she had access to. Yes she had an edge, but it was one that could be given away quickly if she merely thought, 'hey, I've got a type advantage here. I've got this in the bag.' That's why - was able to win the fight as one-sidedly as she did."

Young Mia beamed with pride in herself at the statement, which only caused Mariah to seethe all that much more. She glared at Young Mia and Shellder, but she did not take any further actions against either. She then just walked away to sulk in the corner. The other Rockets went over to Young Mia and smiled, telling her, "You were incredible here. You keep this up and you'll be one of the best Rockets we've ever had in history."

Young Mia seemed to blush as she responded, "Well, I _did_ have two major advantages: Bulbasaur was part-Grass-type and also a really strong Pokémon."

"Yeah, but don't sell yourself short," the Rocket told her. "You knew that Shellder was gonna use Icicle Spear since if it scored a direct hit on you with all of the spears, it could severely hurt Bulbasaur, if not actually beat him. Your plan put the kibosh on that," the Rocket finished with a chuckle.

"Thanks," Young Mia answered.

"The Boss had been really impressed with your scores wants to train you personally," the Rocket added. "You're movin' up."

"Wow, really?" Young Mia blurted.

"Yeah," the Rocket answered.

"Alright!" Young Mia exclaimed as they directed her towards the exit so she could train with Giovanni. However, as Dreaming Mia watched the scene, she could tell that her younger self was merely acting and that all she was really doing was planning her eventual escape, something the glimmer in her eye as well as the subtle twisting of her lips into a dark grin would have given away had the Rockets been paying attention. That was when the vision faded and she saw herself standing in a blank space with the montage of memories once more.

She soon saw images of her one-on-one training with Giovanni. He was teaching her all about Pokémon types and evolution, as well as the known locations of various Pokémon. She saw scenes of chalkboards, desks covered with schematics and scrolls, as well as books. Young Mia carefully studied everything that was given to her, taking in everything that the Rocket Boss and the others were teaching her. Giovanni personally tutored her in terms of how to lead squads. Viper taught her some of the more 'mundane' tasks such as stealing valuable items from secured locations and how to evade detection by both humans as well as Pokémon. Sessions with Viper were not one-on-one, but she only had seven other classmates: four boys and three girls. Dreaming Mia did not recognize any of the classmates, though she had a feeling that some of them would become Young Mia's friends, or at least more than mere acquaintances.

Another montage showed her leading a squad in a training mission where the goal was to steal important information on a newly discovered form of Pokémon evolution called Mega Evolution. Young Mia led a team of four children, each of whom was given a single Pokémon. Mia, of course, picked Bulbasaur, while the others had other Pokémon, with a boy having picked a Drowzee, something that Young Mia eagerly supported, for she knew the strength of a Psychic-type Pokémon. The mission had gone off without so much as a hitch, Young Mia going in first and not even having to use the other Pokémon, her playing the part of a curious girl who wanted to look inside the house and sell some items. She managed to convince the scientist to buy some of her useless items she termed as 'widgets', allowing her partners to go in and download a copy of the research while she occupied him and his staff, using her good looks and flattery to divert them from the real threat. After the data had been downloaded, she and the others made a clean getaway, taking the data with them, the scientist being none the wiser.

In another scene, though, Dreaming Mia began to see where the rift between Young Mia and Team Rocket was becoming more apparent. In this scene, she was using Bulbasaur and Shellder to battle an opponent, a Rocket Agent, with a Drowzee and an Oddish, a Pokémon that looked like a blue plant bulb with ovular foot-like roots and five green leaves on its head. Like Bulbasaur, it, too, was a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. She knew that she was at a significant disadvantage since both of her opponent's Pokémon had a type advantage over hers and only one of her Pokémon had any moves that were strong against her opponent's Pokémon. Still, she did have a chance.

"Bulbasaur, go evasive and use Sleep Powder on Drowzee. Shellder, use Icicle Spear on Oddish!" she commanded loudly. She did not tell Shellder to go evasive, for she knew that it was a sitting duck and not very evasive. She also knew that she was taking a risk using Sleep Powder on Drowzee since it could have had Insomnia, which would have made Sleep Powder useless, but she knew that Drowzee's Special Attack power would be enough to beat Shellder even if Leech Seed was used and it was still conscious.

The Pokémon looked back, questioning her order, but she insisted on those moves. "Do it. It's the only chance we have against that team."

The Rocket Agent scowled as Young Mia explained her decision to her Pokémon. He was eager to show her the error in her plan as he cried, "Drowzee, use Psychic on Bulbasaur and Oddish, use Giga Drain on Shellder!"

Young Mia grimaced and watched intently as the battle unfolded, knowing that the Rocket's Pokémon were readying their attacks just as her Pokémon were readying theirs. It would all come down to whom attacked who first, and if Shellder got lucky. Sure enough, Shellder did manage to get lucky and five spears of ice were launched from its spikes, each of which scored direct hits on Oddish before it could get off its Giga Drain. The Icicle Spears managed to score a couple of critical hits and take down the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. As for Bulbasaur and Drowzee, Bulbasaur managed to get off his Sleep Powder just as Drowzee lifted him into the air with Psychic and shoved him into the wall, knocking him out. That left only a sleeping Drowzee and a fresh Shellder.

"Shellder, use Clamp!" Young Mia commanded.

The Pokémon eagerly obeyed and hopped over to Drowzee and clamped down on its head with its shell and began to squeeze Drowzee. Drowzee, however, remained sound asleep. The Rocket Agent was not amused. "Wake up you blithering idiot! That Shellder's gonna beat you!"

The Rocket's roar fell on deaf ears as Drowzee continued to live up to its name and continued to sleep. It only awakened a moment before the Clamp finished it off and it fainted, much to the delight of Young Mia, and the chagrin of the Rocket Agent.

Upon winning, Young Mia went over to get Bulbasaur and quickly brought the fainted Pokémon over to Shellder and hugged both of them, exclaiming, "You two were awesome!" She then looked over at Bulbasaur and looked at him glumly, saying, "Sorry I got you knocked out in that battle. I won't let that happen again."

"Yeah, Bulbasaur was great, gettin' knocked out in a single hit and all," the Rocket commented sarcastically, grinning.

Young Mia grimaced as she saw the Rocket's grin. She was tempted to retort that she still won the overall battle, but the Rocket was right and he did not even know it. The loss of Bulbasaur in that battle was unacceptable. "A mistake that I take full responsibility for. I will not let such a mistake like that happen again."

"You still won, though," the Rocket answered.

"But the cost was too high."

"It was the only way to win against my advantage."

"Then I'll train myself and Bulbasaur until we can overcome such a disadvantage," she proclaimed.

The Rocket grimaced at her statement. "And what if Bulbasaur can't? That Shellder couldn't beat Bulbasaur when you fought him. Some battles just can't be won."

"Then I'll find a way," Young Mia declared.

All the Rocket could do was scowl. She had not given the proper reaction. She was supposed to either be happy that she won, ignoring the loss of Bulbasaur in the battle, or beating the stuffing out of Bulbasaur for being weak enough to fall to a single Psychic. She was doing none of these things. She then glanced over in the other room and heard the cries of a Sandshrew that was being whipped by a Rocket Grunt for losing a battle. She also saw a child trying to stop the beating, only to be beaten in the process, along with another innocent. Both Young Mia and Dreaming Mia scowled. She knew that the supposedly nice Team Rocket that was trying to seduce her to their side were all lies. This was the true Team Rocket: the organization that whipped, bullied, and even killed people and Pokémon alike when it suited them. She would never be a part of this organization. She would escape them, no matter what it took. And as the world faded to white, she had a feeling that she was about to learn just how she had managed to escape Team Rocket.

When the world re-formed, Dreaming Mia found herself in Young Mia's room in the middle of the night. She was dressed in a modest nightgown and was studying a map of the base on her desk. She had already marked the exits that had the greatest security presence. There were a few secret exits marked on the map as well that she had found during her trips throughout the base as she went to and from her classes and training drills as well as on her missions. Team Rocket had been careful to keep her and the others in close proximity and on vehicles with few windows while they went on assignments, but she would worry about what to do in the outside world _after_ she escaped.

More important, though, was not only her own escape, but she had identified several other children who did not like Team Rocket and wished to escape as well. Dreaming Mia caught flashes of her younger self talking to them, assuring them that she would do everything in her power in order to free them and get them to safety, if not back to their parents. The other children nodded as she assured them that she would do her best to save them. She vowed to herself that she would not let them down. They all looked up to her and she was the unofficial leader of the group. Still, Young Mia looked at a couple of them and was suspicious of them. A teenaged girl with short curly red hair and green eyes wearing a rather risqué outfit consisting of a white tank top and blue short shorts cast a suspicious glance at the younger girl, merely dressed in a black sleeveless dress, something that had become her standard uniform while being in Team Rocket's custody. A boy of the same age with dark hair and brown eyes also leered at Young Mia, not really paying much attention to the plan. She noticed that they had both been opponents of hers in the various training battles that the children had participated in during their time in captivity.

Focusing back on the vision at hand, her younger self studying the blueprints of the base, she also caught her younger self focusing on the topography of the surrounding areas. She must have been looking for places to hide for when their escape had been discovered and for any signs of civilization, still being alert for the potential of any government or police force either being affiliated with or having been infiltrated by Team Rocket. When she felt as if she knew everything she needed, she went over to the bed and laid on top of it, not bothering to pull the covers over herself.

Soon, the door to her quarters slid open and a Rocket Grunt popped in, bellowing, "Lights out."

That was the signal that it was time to go to sleep. He then retreated from the door and it slid closed. There was a click and a beep and the green bar on the door's handle soon turned to red, indicating that the door was locked. Young Mia, however, merely grinned. She waited on the bed for a few minutes to make sure that there was no one in the hallway coming in to check on her. Once she was sure that the coast was clear, she went over to a closet and put on the black sleeveless dress that was her usual daily attire, along with a black cloak with hood that matched the color of her dress.

She then made her way over to the desk and opened a drawer. Reaching inside, she pulled out a screwdriver that she had taken from one of the Rocket technicians that she had encountered during her training and a cardkey, the master cardkey that controlled all of the locks on the quarters of the captives. She then went over to the door's lock and began to work trying to override it and open the door. After fiddling with the lock for a few minutes, she heard a click and the light bar on the door's panel turned to green. The door then slid open, granting the girl access to the hallway. She did not stop to grin or appreciate her handiwork, for she suspected that it would not be long before Team Rocket detected that her door was open. As such, she quickly ducked out into the corridor and then closed the door and reactivated the lock from the outside. She hoped that it would be sufficient to keep from arousing any suspicions of Team Rocket's security. She wanted to be long gone when they realized that she was no longer there.

Dreaming Mia followed her younger self as she made her way down the corridor. Young Mia kept close to the wall, doing her best to keep to the shadows and remain unseen by any potential roving patrols. Once she was certain that there no patrols in sight, she would dart from the shadow to the nearest second shadow, moving silently through the corridor as if she were a ninja.

Remembering the location of the security center from memory, Young Mia followed trekked through the base all the way to the security center. She darted down each corridor, keeping to the shadows as she did so and hiding in the shadows and freezing whenever she saw or heard a Rocket guard on patrol. After the Rocket was far enough away, she would continue her trek.

Not far into her trek, she came across a storage area that seemed to be unoccupied. Even better was that door to the storage shed was a simple wooden door and did not seem to have a lock. Still, not wanting to blunder into a trap, Young Mia grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and then thrust open the door while immediately ducking back into a shadow, waiting to see if there was any activity inside. Seeing no sign of activity inside, she rushed inside and closed the door before any patrols came down the hallway.

Inside the storage shed, Young Mia's eyes went wide with delight as she saw a veritable treasure trove of arms from small arms to explosives to bazookas. Her lips then twisted into a dark grin as she knew exactly how to cover her escape from the base. She quickly went to what looked like a mini armory and she grabbed a Ray Gun and two red Motion-Sensor Bombs. She then headed over to the other explosives and prepared to activate them, intending to destroy the armory. Hopefully that would cause enough damage to the base that they would be too concerned with keeping the building intact, or escaping the ensuing blaze, that they would not notice her escape. And if all went well, the fire could cause the locks on the doors to deactivate, which would allow the other kids to escape, too.

She then strategically placed the explosives all around the room, knowing that the armory was far away from the cells of the kids. She knew the risk of the explosions being stronger than expected, but it was a calculated risk. The damage done to the base would make it more difficult for Team Rocket to focus on finding her. Once the bombs were placed, she exited the armory and ran as far from it as she could as fast as she could. She had safely entered a corridor almost a hundred feet away when the bombs inside the armory went off.

The explosions in the armory blew the door leading to it off its hinges. A Rocket security guard that had been making his rounds had the misfortune of being right next to the door when the bombs went off, blowing the door off of its hinges, and into the unfortunate guard, the massive metal door crushing him. The explosions also blew out several walls in the armory and had rendered he weapons and Poké Balls inside the armory completely useless. Even worse, though, was that it had destroyed all of the conventional weapons of Team Rocket's arsenal in one fell swoop. The moment the bombs had gone off, all sorts of klaxons went off from the fire alarm to the security alert to even the intruder alert.

Outside the now destroyed armory, Giovanni shot out of his bed, dressed in a blue and white striped pajama top and pants, awakened by the cacophony of alarm klaxons going off throughout the base. Looking around, he saw the red bars flashing, indicating that the base was at Condition Red. The Rocket Boss immediately went over to an intercom phone and picked it up.

"What the hell is going on?" he roared into the phone.

"Sir, there has been a series of explosions inside the armory," a voice answered over the phone.

"What?" Giovanni roared, his eyes wide with surprise. "Lock down the base immediately!"

"I can't, sir," the Rocket answered. "Fire safety protocols unlock all exits to the base in times of a fire emergency." There was a pause and before Giovanni could issue a roar of disapproval, the voice spoke again, "Sir, it also unlocks all of the quarters as well."

"No," Giovanni blurted, his eyes going wide with shock, knowing that there could be only one culprit behind the explosions and knowing what the protocols would entail. He then roared into the phone, "Get security on alert. Tell them to find - Ketchum and kill her immediately."

"At once, sir," the Rocket on the other end answered. He did not know why Giovanni suspected a girl of barely nine years of age of being the culprit behind the explosions, but he did not dare question his boss, not after hearing the tone of Giovanni's order. As such, he went about his duty, carrying out Giovanni's commands.

Meanwhile, Young Mia was rushing down the corridors, Ray Gun in hand. She scanned the walls to see if there were any doors to a Pokémon storage area, for she knew that Team Rocket liked to store their Pokémon in a different location from their other weapons. She soon came across a glass case with a series of Poké Balls. Using the butt of the pistol, she smashed open the glass case, pieces of glass raining down onto the ground. Inside, however, was only one occupied Poké Ball, along with five others that were empty. These Poké Balls, however, were white and black with a gold U on the top of them. She suspected that they were the new Ultra Balls that she had heard about. She did not like the fact that Team Rocket seemed to have the new Poké Balls, so she decided to relieve them of the balls.

Clipping the empty balls to her waist, she opened the sole occupied Poké Ball and released the Pokémon inside, making sure to fully release it so that it would not be drawn back to the ball should Team Rocket manage to retrieve the ball. When she truly released it, a blue blob of energy emerged from the ball and when it had fully formed into the Pokémon, a Bulbasaur was revealed, a blue glow forming around the Pokémon before it fully formed. "Bulbasaur," it cried upon being released.

The Bulbasaur looked up at Young Mia questioningly and she immediately recognized it as the same Bulbasaur that she had been training during her time in captivity. The girl looked down at Bulbasaur and smiled. She then placed the Poké Ball on the ground and raised her Ray Gun. She then smashed the Poké Ball with the butt of her Ray Gun, the ball shattering into dozens of fragments. Now there was no way for Team Rocket to use that Poké Ball to recapture Bulbasaur. Now that Bulbasaur was free, all she had to do was make sure that the other captives were able to escape as well.

She rushed down the next hallway, spying several doors that were open. Standing just outside the doors were several captives that she had known and grown to befriend during her captivity. They ranged in age from nine all the way to eighteen. The oldest was a boy named Tristan. The girl was very mistrustful of him, for he had been quick to punish Pokémon for failing in battle, even when the mistakes had been his own, such as ordering a Normal or Fighting-type attack to be used against Ghost-type Pokémon. As such, she kept a sharp eye on him while the others looked to her.

"-," one of the children, a boy of nine years with brown hair raised into two spiked tufts gasped in surprise when he saw her armed with a Ray Gun and having Bulbasaur at her side. She recognized him as being Cameron. He then looked down the corridor and heard activity coming their way. "There's too many of them," Cameron uttered fearfully. "What are we gonna do?"

Young Mia suppressed a grunt. "We fight," she answered sternly, raising her Ray Gun and cocking it, making sure that it was at full charge. Bulbasaur also sided up next to her and blurted, "Bulba!" The Pokémon narrowed its gaze and showed that it was eager for battle. This prompted the girl to smile. With that, she told the others, "Follow me."

The children glanced at each other questioningly, but they did not have any better ideas and they knew that it was stupid to remain in Team Rocket's captivity. As such, they followed after the girl, Young Mia making certain to keep an eye on Tristan and the other older captives. She did not trust the older captives, though in the back of her mind, she knew that the younger ones were still just as capable of betrayal as the older ones. Once they were ready, they followed Mia down the corridor, the entire group using their training in order to move quietly without being noticed by any roving patrols.

They carefully made their way down the corridor and towards the base's exit. As they made their way towards the exit, a Rocket patrol consisting of two grunts made their way from another corridor into the one occupied by the children. The Rockets' eyes went wide at the sight of the kids and they went to draw their Poké Balls and side arms.

"Bulbasaur, use Sleep Powder on them," Young Mia commanded in a quiet voice, not wanting any speakers or other patrols to hear her. Before the Rockets could deploy their Pokémon or fire on the children, Bulbasaur's Sleep Powder cloud burst forth from his bulb and covered the Rockets in the powder. The Rockets instantly began to get drowsy and after a second, fell to the floor, each one sound asleep.

With the Rockets having been neutralized, she and the others made their way past the Rockets and towards the exit. However, as she made her way past, Young Mia heard a sound behind her and she turned to see Tristan holding a Ray Gun on her.

"Sorry -, but I can't let you leave. You're the property of Team Rocket. And you will serve us."

Young Mia outwardly grimaced, but she inwardly, she was not surprised at Tristan's betrayal. She gripped her Ray Gun, which only made the teenager smile. "So you want to do this the hard way," he scoffed. "You're no match for me. And think about this. Once I kill you, the others will either fall in line or die alongside…"

But Tristan would never finish, for while he was speaking, Young Mia raised her Ray Gun and shot the teen twice in the head, two clean holes burned through the skull, and brain, of the teenaged Tristan right between the eyes mid-sentence. The other children's eyes went wide at the speed and ease of which Young Mia had killed him. They would not have time to be stunned for long, for Mia's firing of her Ray Gun had set off the security alarm.

"Come on," the girl cried. "We've gotta get out of here now!"

The others did not dare argue with the girl as she led them towards the base's exit. As they approached the exit, they could hear the voice of Giovanni yell, "Stop!"

As the others made their way through the door, Young Mia turned around and fired a series of covering shots at the Rocket Boss and two Rocket Agents that were with him. The two Rocket Agents quickly fell to Mia's fire, several holes being burned into their chests, while Giovanni dove back into the corridor that he had come out from. Mia quickly backed away towards the exit, continuing to fire on Giovanni in order to keep him pinned down. She then turned around and fled out the exit, though not before mining the exit, dropping both Motion-Sensor Bombs near the exit and hoping that when the Rockets tried to follow her, that they would be in for a big surprise.

Back outside the base, the children that had escaped had already scattered, following a variety of paths that led into towns not too far away. Young Mia also made her way towards a dirt path when she came across another Rocket. This one had a backpack on his back and carried two Poké Balls. Wasting no time, she raised her Ray Gun to the Rocket's head and pulled the trigger, the gun delivering a green pulse of energy to the Rocket's head, burning a hole right between the Rocket's eyes, instantly killing him.

After she killed him, she decided to go through his backpack to see if there was anything inside that could be of use to her. When she went through it, she noticed that he had a holographic generator in a pocket, along with more weapons and Poké Balls in the main pack. This gave her an idea. She took the holographic generator and looked through its list of images. She found that it was not full and that it could record her own image. She decided that she could fake her own death and hopefully keep Team Rocket from searching for her while she made her way home. She recorded an image of her and then placed it on the Rocket's chest beneath his shirt, hoping that the generator would project the image even from underneath his shirt. Sure enough, it did and there, lying on the ground, was a perfect copy of the nine year old girl in a black dress. Young Mia grinned at the sight as she then took his backpack and tossed it into a thicket of bushes, but not before removing a hood and cloak, putting it on to shield her appearance as she made her way towards the path. As soon as she was out of sight of Dreaming Mia, the world went white again.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

When the world returned to normal, Dreaming Mia saw her younger self inside a barbershop of some sort, having bought a pair of scissors and blonde wig that was slightly longer than her younger self's previous hair. Dreaming Mia figured that her younger self must have gotten a haircut, but she could tell that her younger self wanted more of a haircut than the one she was given. The initial haircut must have been a cover, for when she went into an alley, she quickly cut her hair again, cutting it so that it fell to just above the shoulders, a vastly different style than she had ever had before.

Everything then fast-forwarded to a time when she was just getting out of a shower in a hotel, a towel wrapped around her body. She then went over to the bed and got dressed, dressing in the standard uniform of a Japanese schoolgirl. Once her uniform was on, she put the final touch to her new uniform, a curly blonde wig that fell below her shoulders. She saw her younger self look into the mirror and almost frown. It was obvious that she did not like changing her appearance so drastically, though it looked like she was almost frowning at the schoolgirl uniform rather than the wig. Dreaming Mia could tell that her younger self changed her appearance so drastically so that Team Rocket would not find her, likely figuring her to have died in the escape attempt outside the base, assuming that they did not discover that the 'dead Mia' they found was, indeed, one of their Grunts simply with a holographic projector disguising him as the girl. Thinking about it for a moment longer Dreaming Mia suspected that Team Rocket would probably have discovered the deception fairly quickly but she figured that it did not really come into play at this time. She then noticed her younger self examine herself in the mirror, almost as if wondering if the blonde wig clashed with the Japanese schoolgirl look since she did not know any Asian girls that naturally had blonde hair. Still, her younger self thought that since she was in Japan that she would not stand out too much since she had been living there almost since she had been born. Satisfied that her new outfit would not draw any suspicion from any potential Rockets, she then made her way out of her room, followed by Bulbasaur, who made no comment about her look.

As she exited the room, she turned and made her way to an elevator. She called the elevator and waited for it to come. The scene fast-forwarded until she was in the hotel lobby, and checking out. The lobby was completely deserted save for Young Mia and a couple that was just stepping off of an escalator. The girl looked over at the couple and her eyes went wide as she instantly recognized the woman as her mother. Delia was dressed in an unusual dress, for it was a black sleeveless dress that fell to several inches above her knees. The skirt was almost as short as the one that Dreaming Mia found herself to be wearing. She was tempted to rush up to her mother and tell her whom she was when she found that her mother was holding the hand of a handsome man who looked to be in his early thirties. Looking at the man, she thought that he looked familiar, and not in a good way. Thinking back, she eventually managed to identify him as Marcus, an agent of Team Rocket, and a known ladies man. She had always thought of him as a pig, for he had made some passes at younger female Rocket Grunts that she knew to be younger than eighteen. That immediately put the kibosh on any attempt to reveal herself to her mother. Still, she was curious as to what was going on, for she could not imagine what her mother was doing with him. She then walked by casually and listened in on their conversation.

"Well, that was a lot of fun," Delia said sensuously, giving Marcus a playful smile.

Marcus grinned, obviously satisfied about something. "Yes it was, but it was because you were there and dancing along with me, babe." He then proceeded to kiss Delia on the cheek, causing Young Mia to avert her eyes. Once he was finished, he took Delia into his arms and kissed her on the lips. Young Mia looked back at the couple just in time Delia respond to Marcus's kiss with a sigh. She then hugged him and kissed him on the lips. "Wow, this is great," Marcus sighed. "Just you and me, hot stuff." He then paused as he gazed into Delia's eyes before asking, "So how did you manage to make time for the Motown Spectacular? Don't you have to worry about Ash?"

"He's at Professor Oak's summer camp," Delia answered. "He'll be returning tomorrow."

"Well then, that gives us all night," Marcus responded mischievously as he drew Delia close to him and kissed her again, Delia responding in kind, the two sighing as they kissed, the sounds of kissing seemingly becoming louder and louder to both Young Mia and Dreaming Mia's ears.

As they were kissing, both Young Mia's and Dreaming Mia's fingers curled into fists and she seethed with anger, rage, sadness, and betrayal. How could her mother be having an affair with a member of Team Rocket? The young girl's shock and sadness was mirrored by her dreaming self. Dreaming Mia seethed just as the young girl did and tears began to fall down the cheeks of both girls, the pain of the betrayal etched all over their faces. She recognized Delia as her mother, something that she did not completely understand, or really care about, but she could not understand how and why her mother would be in a relationship with a member of Team Rocket. All she could hear was her younger self seething, "Cheating witch," that last word an obvious replacement for profanity, something that Dreaming Mia knew was something she never used, even when she was enraged.

Dreaming Mia could not disagree with her younger self's assessment. She watched as her younger self walked over to the exit and departed the hotel. Dreaming Mia could hear Marcus talking to Delia some more.

"Come on, babe, let's do it. I mean, no one would know."

"Not yet," she heard Delia reply as the world was turning white. "Maybe later," were the last words that Mia heard before the world focused on Young Mia, who was running out of the hotel, tears falling from her eyes to the ground. She went over to a bench and then sat down, tears streaming down her face as she silently cried as the world turned completely to white and a timeskip occurred once more.

When the world came back, she found herself in a montage of events. She found herself trekking back to Pallet Town, catching buses as keeping an eye out for agents of Team Rocket. She would take part in the odd competition to try to get some prize money so that she could pay for her trip back to Pallet Town. She was not above making little figures and objects called widgets and selling them to people for a fairly high price to make more money. Bulbasaur shook his head, believing that Young Mia was scamming the people but she just responded that people need to play and her figures would be perfect for that. Bulbasaur did not believe her, though, but did nothing to stop her. Most of the people she scammed were members of Team Rocket or known supporters of Giovanni anyway so he was more willing to not call Young Mia out on that.

As time went on, she saw that her younger self had heard that Marcus was no longer dating her mother, which caused her to give a wry grin. She had figured that he was using her and that he had likely done something to her. In other pictures, she found herself having to walk back on her own with only Bulbasaur for protection. No one actually accosted her and whenever she encountered a Pokémon, Bulbasaur was usually able to defeat it or drive it away. When that was not possible, or the outcome was in doubt, Young Mia and Bulbasaur were not ashamed to flee the battle.

Eventually, the world returned to normal speed and she found herself in Pallet Town, not too far away from her house. A single dark red ground car sat in the driveway. She recognized the car as something that she was familiar with but she could not remember why she recognized it. She looked around and found her younger self standing a few dozen yards away from her house, Bulbasaur next to her. She was dressed in the same black dress, or at least one of the same style, as the one she had when she had escaped Team Rocket, something that surprised Dreaming Mia. It looked to be close to midday and she saw her younger self looking at her house and take a deep breath in and then let out a sigh. She noticed that she no longer sported her blonde wig, the girl revealing her natural black hair. It also seemed as if her hair was a bit longer, falling to right at to just below her shoulders, though not nearly as long as it had been before her kidnapping. Apparently, the girl was not bothering to hide who she was anymore.

After taking her deep breath and letting it out, Young Mia made her way over to her house. She nervously went up the steps and onto the porch, smiling in anticipation as she did so. Apparently, she had found it in herself to forgive her mother for the affair with Marcus, or was more interested in seeing her brother once again. Once she arrived, she gripped the door handle and pulled it open. She then proceeded to step inside, followed closely by Bulbasaur.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad, I'm home!" she excitedly proclaimed as she entered the house, beaming towards the kitchen. "Is Ash here too?"

She got no answer for several moments. "Mom, Dad, are you home? It's me, -," the girl announced. Suddenly, a bad feeling came over the girl. Perhaps her mother had moved. That did not make any sense, though, for she recognized the car in the driveway as being her mom's.

"Come on, Mom, joke's over. I'm finally back. I finally got out," she stated, not directly referencing her kidnapping by Team Rocket on the off chance that the reason her mother had not responded was because there was an agent of Team Rocket in the house at this very moment. She remembered that while Delia and Marcus had previously stopped dating, that they may have started up that relationship again.

What Young Mia did not expect to see was Delia come down from the upstairs in a white sleeveless dress that fell just below her knees. Suddenly, the girl began to grow worried as Delia looked down at her, surprised but also curious.

"Hello?" Delia said quizzically as she hesitantly came down the stairs. She did not appear to be armed but she did appear to be on guard. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Young Mia could scarcely believe what she was hearing. She figured that this had to be some kind of joke. "Come on, Mom, it's me," Young Mia answered, smiling.

"Bulba," Bulbasaur echoed, as if he also expected Delia to remember Young Mia.

"What?" Delia said questioningly. Her expression then got serious. "I mean it miss, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Young Mia was flabbergasted at her mother's response. "How can you not know me? It's me, -. I'm your daughter."

"What?" Delia stated, recoiling upon hearing the girl's declaration almost as if she had taken a punch to the gut. "That's not possible. I only have one child. And he's a boy."

"Uh, no, you have two. Ash and I are twins."

"What?" Delia said again in utter disbelief at the fact that the girl knew the name of her son. "That's not possible. Ash is an only child. And I was loyal to my husband before he left us when Ash was still a baby." She then narrowed her gaze down on Young Mia. "Okay young lady, who are you really?"

"I'm -," Young Mia answered desperately. "I _am_ your daughter."

"Mom, what's going on?" Young Mia heard the voice of Ash ask as he appeared at the top of the steps. He then looked past his mother down the steps and saw Mia and upon laying eyes on her, his eyes went wide with surprise and infatuation at the sight of the beautiful girl. "Who is she?" he asked, half in a daze at the sight of his, seemingly unbeknownst to him, twin sister. "She's really pretty," he whispered inaudibly, but Young Mia seemed to pick up on what he said as if it were said in a normal conversational tone as he stared at her, his eyes sparkling with infatuation.

Young Mia scowled and then glared at Ash. "You know darn well who I am Ash Ketchum," she roared. "And stop looking all googly-eyed at me before I come up there and break something of yours that's important."

"You'll do no such thing," Delia roared as she stepped in front of the obviously infatuated Ash. "I don't know who you are, but you're not going to come up here and threaten my son!"

Young Mia let out a grunt. "Come on Mom and Ash, end this game right now. It's me, -. - Ketchum. I'm Ash's twin sister. I love training in martial arts, fighting, and studying Pokémon Battling. I don't mind school. My favorite subjects are science, band, and dance, and I _hate_ singing with all my heart, mind, and soul."

Ash then giggled mischievously and asked, "Would ya like to be my karaoke partner, - was it?" his eyes still sparkling, his lips twisting to a mischievous grin.

She gritted her teeth and seethed at her twin brother's grin and his question. Even if he did not remember her, she had just told him that she hated singing. "Heck no, dolt! I abhor singing! Death to singing!" she proudly proclaimed at the top of her voice, particularly the last statement. Her roar caused Ash to recoil, his eyes no longer sparkling with infatuation.

"She's scary Mom," Ash said, hiding behind his mother, shivering.

"Don't worry, honey, she was just leaving," Delia said. She then turned to her, apparently unbeknownst to her, daughter and said sternly, "You _were_ just leaving."

Young Mia seethed for a few seconds before relaxing and looking down at the ground sadly, something Delia caught on to. She then looked back at Ash and flared her twin bond with him, expecting him to sense something and have that bond jog his memory. Instead, he seemed to sense nothing, merely peering out from behind his mother and looking at her, his eyes sparkling once more with infatuation. She then slumped forward and lowered her head.

"It seems as if I am," Young Mia said sadly, barely keeping back tears at the apparent betrayal she was enduring, as well as the fact that Ash did not sense her in the twin bond. Worse was that she figured that the only way he could not have sensed her would have been if he had purposefully closed himself off to her. Using her bond with him, she did not sense him closing himself to her, but there was definitely something out of the ordinary with him. His memories seemed to be off.

Soon, there was a sound at the door and the door swung inward. "Good morning Delia," came the familiar voice of Professor Oak. "Is it okay if I come in?"

"Sure," Delia answered, smiling. "And it's almost noon."

That brought a chuckle from Professor Oak. Young Mia and Bulbasaur retreated as Delia made her way down the steps, and Professor Oak looked at her appraisingly. "Wow, you sure got dressed up for our conference today," the professor noted. Delia merely gave a coy smile, something that caused Young Mia to scowl once more.

"So Mom's doing Professor Oak now," she said out loud in disgust. "It figures, what with her having done Marcus of Team Rocket and all." She then shrugged, showing just how low her opinion of her mother now was. Ash looked at Young Mia and then at his mother.

"What is she talking about?" Ash asked. Delia gave no answer immediately, turning to Professor Oak with a look of shock on her face.

"Excuse me, Delia, who is this?" Professor Oak asked, noticing Young Mia for the first time.

"She says her name is -," Delia answered.

"She's really pretty but really scary, sir," Ash added, coming down the steps.

"Have you seen her before?" Delia asked, wondering if the Professor either knew her or knew of her and that was why she was in her house.

"No," Professor Oak answered after taking one look at her, shaking his head. "Why do you ask?"

"Because she says she's my daughter," Delia answered, indicating that there was no way that was possible. And she certainly did not actually believe Young Mia to be her own daughter.

While Delia was speaking, Young Mia simultaneously roared, "Of course you've seen me, Professor Oak! I attended your spring camp with Ash two years ago! I lived within walking distance of you until I was kidnapped by Team Freaking Rocket! And of course I'm my mom's daughter. It's just that I was kidnapped because I was forced to sing at the stupid concert that was actually a trap! Dad came and tried to rescue us, but only managed to save Ash. He then came after me but Team Rocket managed to elude him and possibly kill him! Come on, why can't you remember?"

Just as she had screamed those words, something came to her mind. Could her mother have had her mind wiped by Team Rocket? Could Ash have had his mind wiped as well? Could that have been what Marcus had done to her? The only question is why Professor Oak seemed to forget that she existed. More disturbing, though, was that when she flared her twin bond with Ash, he did not seem to feel anything. That, alone, was a big problem. It was then that Delia said the very words that seemed to hurt Young Mia the most.

"My husband abandoned Ash and me when we were young," she said sternly, looking down at the ground. "He said he left to pursue his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, but I think he also wanted to pursue some other girls as well." That last bit was said with vitriol but also sadness. It was clear that the incident had hurt Delia deeply. Young Mia, however, could not believe what her mother was saying. She knew that it was not true

"That's a lie!" she declared, pointing at her mother. "You're a liar and a cheat! Dad was always loyal to you! You're the one that hooked up with a member of Team Freaking Rocket and now this idiot professor! You're nothing but a slut!"

With that last accusation, she turned around and stomped out of her home, Bulbasaur looking over at Delia, Ash, and Professor Oak for a few seconds and growling, "Bulba," obviously agreeing with Young Mia's assessment of Delia, but also her implied assessment of Professor Oak, before turning around and following after Young Mia. As the two left, Delia could only look out at the girl and stare silently, wondering what that was all about. For a split second, something came to mind and she wondered if she had, indeed, known the girl from somewhere but there was also another feeling in her mind, almost as if what she thought that she had known about her husband may not have actually been true. The feeling, however, left just as soon as it had entered her mind and turned to go back to Professor Oak only to see that he was not there.

As for Young Mia, she was walking down the sidewalk towards the street, turning to the left as soon as she had reached the end of her sidewalk. Tears were streaming down her face. Bulbasaur had just caught up to her when Professor Oak ran after her, calling after her, "Wait."

The girl turned to see the professor rushing towards her, stopping a few feet away. She managed to pull herself together and wipe her eyes clean of the tears.

"What do you want?" she growled.

Professor Oak did not immediately answer her, taking a look at Bulbasaur, who studied the professor in return. Young Mia noticed Bulbasaur's reaction and glanced at the professor, and then back at the Pokémon.

"Do you know him, Bulbasaur?"

Bulbasaur did not give an answer, but Professor Oak soon did as his eyes flashed with realization. "You," he blurted. "You're the Bulbasaur that went missing six months ago! I knew I recognized you. I've finally found you."

Professor Oak then took out a Poké Ball that Young Mia knew was Bulbasaur's. "Time to come home," the professor exclaimed.

Bulbasaur was not so sure and looked back at the girl questioningly, wondering what he should do. Young Mia looked at each of them and then focused her gaze on Bulbasaur. "Do what you think is best," she offered, though it was clear that she would rather have Bulbasaur stay with her. He was her only friend at the moment, and the only being she trusted.

Bulbasaur nodded and looked back at Professor Oak. He then looked back sadly at Young Mia and took a step towards Professor Oak, at first believing that it was best not to challenge the professor and start a fight. He then hesitated for a moment but before he could go back to Young Mia's side, Professor Oak recalled him to the Poké Ball, believing Bulbasaur to have chosen to return to him. As Professor Oak recalled Bulbasaur, the Pokémon cried out, "Bulbaaaa," as the red beam hit him and drew him back into the Poké Ball.

"Wait!" Young Mia cried as Professor Oak recalled Bulbasaur.

"There, all safe and sound," the Professor stated casually as he clipped the Poké Ball back to his belt. "I must thank you young miss for returning Bulbasaur," the Professor told her, smiling. "I don't know who you are, but tell me if there's anything I can do for you."

"Release Bulbasaur," Young Mia answered. "He's my friend."

"Release him?" Professor Oak asked, surprised by the girl's answer. Young Mia nodded. "I'm not sure I can do that. You see, Bulbasaur is a Kanto Starter Pokémon. He is a Pokémon that may be chosen by young up and coming Pokémon Trainers."

"Then give him to me," Young Mia blurted. "I choose Bulbasaur!"

Professor Oak shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that. First, you need to be ten years old to own Pokémon and become a Pokémon Trainer. Are you ten?"

"Yes," Young Mia lied, nodding.

"I doubt that," Professor Oak replied. "First of all, you claim to be Ash's twin sister. If you are, then you know that he's only nine, and, thus, too young to own Pokémon or become a Pokémon Trainer, meaning that you, also, are too young to become a Pokémon Trainer. Second of all, since you say you're from Pallet Town, that should be easy enough to prove if you give me some proof of your heritage. Can you give me a photo I.D. or something similar, some proof that you are from Pallet Town or even from Kanto?"

The young girl nearly slumped as Professor Oak asked her for some proof of her heritage in Pallet Town and/or her age. Professor Oak immediately recognized that the girl did not have any proof.

"So you are not ten years old," Professor Oak stated plainly. "And I also doubt that you are in any way related to Ash or Delia, or that you are even from Pallet Town, much less Kanto. Your accent indicates that you are originally from America."

Young Mia gritted her teeth, for the professor was right about her not being from Pallet Town or Kanto. Indeed, while Mia and her family had lived in Pallet Town since she was a few weeks old she was, indeed, not initially native to Pallet Town, originally having been born in New York with her parents moving to Kanto shortly after she and Ash were born. While all she had really known was Pallet Town, her mother had told her about New York since that was where she, her parents, and siblings were originally from and where her mother's siblings still lived.

"Yeah, and so are my parents and Ash," Young Mia retorted, annoyed at how the professor was not letting her take Bulbasaur and free him. She would be able to take it better if Bulbasaur had actually voluntarily gone with the professor, but she seemed to be the only one who heard his cry as he was returned to the Poké Ball. She did notice the professor be taken aback by her comment about Ash and Delia's origins. Still, he did not seem to take any further heed of it and simply sighed.

"When you can show me proof of your age and identification, you may be able to register for the League," the professor told the girl. "However, you can only get one starter and it must be from your home region."

Young Mia merely grunted and glared at Professor Oak. With her mother, brother, and the professor having forgotten about her, there was no way she would be able to prove that she was a citizen of Kanto. Even worse, though, was that she could not get a Pokémon until she was ten years old and her birthday was still three months away. Before turning, though, she did make one last statement.

"Bulbasaur, I do choose you and I will get you out of there. I swear it," the girl vowed.

As the world went white once more, Dreaming Mia figured that the next segment of her memories would detail how she managed to acquire Bulbasaur, assuming she did so at all.

When the world re-formed, Dreaming Mia found her younger self standing just outside of Professor Oak's lab. She was wearing the same uniform she currently had on: a blue tank top over a black sleeveless undershirt along with a red miniskirt with a white hat with a red Poké Ball symbol on its front. Her hair was also at its normal length, falling down to around the middle of her back. There was a great deal of fanfare going on and for some reason, she knew exactly what was being celebrated: the choosing of Pokémon. Three young Trainers were here to choose their Pokémon, with a fourth on the way. As she thought about the day, she could not help but feel as if Ash was the one who was late.

She watched as a boy with spiky brown hair wearing a blue long sleeved shirt emerged from the house she recognized as belonging to Professor Oak. She instantly recognized the boy as being Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson. Ash and Gary did not like each other and Gary always teased Ash. It did not help that he was better than Ash at almost everything related to Pokémon. Almost all of their contests ended up with Gary as the victor. Young Mia did not like Gary, but mostly because of his treatment of Ash with her always sticking up for her twin brother. She also noticed that Gary had a legion of cheerleaders cheering him on.

Her younger self had a mischievous smile as she scanned the area, looking to see if there was any real security. There was not. Everyone was too focused on cheering the kids on, with some of the men gawking at Gary's cheerleaders. She watched as some other kids lined up to get their own Pokémon as well. She knew that she would have to be quick if she wanted to get her Pokémon of choice. She could not allow someone else to get Bulbasaur. For a moment she was worried that Gary may have chosen Bulbasaur. However, Gary soon opened his Poké Ball and showed off his Squirtle. Young Mia breathed a sigh of relief that he had not chosen Bulbasaur. Gary was eager to show off Squirtle and everyone watched as he had Squirtle show off some moves. All Young Mia could do was grin. This was perfect. Everyone was distracted by Gary's showboating. If all went well, no one would even know that she had been there until they opened Bulbasaur's Poké Ball and realized that he was no longer there. As Gary and Squirtle were showing off for the crowd and the cheerleaders, Young Mia ran around the perimeter in order to find out if there was a secret entrance. The back door was locked, but there was a side door that was open and almost begging her to use it to gain entry to the lab. Wasting no time, Young Mia made went over to the door and entered the lab.

Inside the lab, she found herself in short a corridor that led to the main research area. She followed it until she reached the main research area. There, Professor Oak and a group of workers were standing over a table with three Poké Balls. One of them was marked as having been empty. That was likely the Poké Ball belonging to Squirtle. Still, Young Mia grimaced. She would not likely be able to get Bulbasaur without drawing attention after all. For a moment, she considered using her looks and flattery to have them simply give her Bulbasaur, but she suspected that such tactics would not work on Professor Oak or his aides. Still, if she were quick, she may be able to get over to the table while they were not looking, get Bulbasaur, and leave before they spotted her. And if she reached Bulbasaur's Poké Ball, that would be a win since Bulbasaur always wanted to go with her anyway and they could fight their way free if there was any trouble. She waited until no one was looking at either the table or her path, something that took longer than she would have wanted, but when their attention was focused elsewhere, she darted over to the table as quickly and quietly as she could, putting her training under Team Rocket to good use.

Once she reached the table, she quickly examined the two Poké Balls that were not empty. She saw that the spots that the indents that they were in were labeled. Searching for the ball labeled Bulbasaur, she went over to it and grabbed it. She then opened it and out came Bulbasaur. Once he came out, he cried, "Bulbasaur," in a solemn voice, not very excited about being chosen by someone, the Pokémon still missing Mia. However, seeing no one in front of him, he then turned around to see who had called him and when he turned and saw the girl, he looked at her for a second before recognizing Young Mia in her new attire. "Bulbaaaa!" he cried enthusiastically before jumping into her arms.

Young Mia caught the Pokémon in her arms and spun him around exuberantly in a joyful dance. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!" she declared with the same enthusiasm as Bulbasaur had mere moments ago.

"Bulbasaur bulb bulba," Bulbasaur responded, almost certainly translating into, [I choose you too, -].

However, their commotion quickly caught the attention of Professor Oak and his aides. "Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Young Mia scowled at the professor, as did Bulbasaur, who stood in front of Young Mia and assumed a defensive posture.

"I choose Bulbasaur as my Pokémon friend," Young Mia declared proudly.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur cried in agreement, stepping out in front of Young Mia.

"Show me your identification, young miss," Professor Oak directed before he took a closer look at the girl and thought that she resembled someone. His eyes then flashed with realization that he did, indeed, recognize her. She was the girl that intruded upon the Ketchum residence a few months ago. "You," he blurted. "You're that girl that intruded upon the Ketchum residence. You should know that the boy, Ash, is coming to choose his Pokémon today."

Young Mia looked around her before retorting, "Well, where is he?"

The professor sighed. "He's late."

The girl gave a chuckle. "Figures." Her chuckle was echoed by Bulbasaur. Professor Oak could not help but notice the bond that had already formed between the two and was continuing to grow. Still, he had a job to do and this girl was in the process of stealing Bulbasaur.

"Young miss, I must ask that you return Bulbasaur immediately," he told her. "Bulbasaur is one of the Pokémon that will be chosen by new Trainers."

"I'm a new Trainer," Young Mia countered. "And I choose Bulbasaur."

"Tell me your name and show me proof of residence in Kanto," Professor Oak replied in challenge.

"My name is - Ketchum," the girl answered. "You may not remember it but I'm a member of the Ketchum family."

"Without any photo I.D. or a parent or guardian present, I cannot allow you to take Bulbasaur," Professor Oak insisted, reaching into his lab coat. Two of his aides were also coming to assist him in dealing with her.

Young Mia scowled. "This is getting us nowhere."

With that, Bulbasaur stepped forward and unleashed a cloud of Sleep Powder on Professor Oak and the two aides, the blue cloud rocketing towards them. "Everyone take cover," Professor Oak cried as he tried to ready a recording of the Poké Flute melody.

He was unable to reach his computer but he was able to retreat from the cloud far enough so that he did not fall asleep. However, the cloud served its purpose and allowed Young Mia and Bulbasaur to escape. As they were making their getaway, Young Mia noticed a small table containing six Poké Balls and a small computer-like device that she knew was a Pokédex. She decided that if she were to become a Pokémon Trainer, that she would need the balls and the Pokédex and took the items before leaving the lab. Once she left the lab, she rushed down the sidewalk and once she was far enough away from the lab to not be easily spotted by the professor. However, before she could escape, she came upon Professor Oak's grandson, Gary.

"Hey, what's going on in there?" Gary called just before noticing Young Mia casually walking by. Gary then turned to her and said, "Hey you."

Young Mia, figuring that Gary would not recognize her, decided to use her greatest weapon in her arsenal to get away quickly, her looks and charm. Turning to Gary and smiling sweetly, she answered, "Yes?"

"You were in the lab, just now, were you not?"

"Yes," Young Mia answered, fluttering her eyelashes at Gary, causing him to cast a curious glance at the beautiful girl. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, I heard somethin' going on back there."

"Well, I haven't seen anything, mister Oak," Young Mia told him, smiling.

Gary then noticed Bulbasaur walking beside her. "Is that your Bulbasaur?" he asked.

Young Mia glanced down at Bulbasaur and smiled before looking back up at Gary and answering, "Well, I wouldn't say he's mine. He is a friend, though and we are going on a journey together."

"That's odd," the boy noted. "Most Trainers keep their Pokémon inside their Poké Balls."

"Well there's been no reason to put Bulbasaur into a Poké Ball. Besides, we're friends, not master and slave. He's free to do whatever he wants, within the law that is," she added quickly, giving the boy a shy smile.

"Well, anyway, would you like to battle?" Gary asked, letting Squirtle out of its Poké Ball. "I'm the best Trainer in Pallet Town and I'm gonna become the Pokémon League Champion."

Young Mia looked down at Squirtle and then back at Gary, fluttering her eyelashes again before shaking her head and answering, "I'm sorry, but I have to get going. I was doing some Super Training with Bulbasaur and he got tired so I'm taking him to a Pokémon Center in Viridian City. Maybe after he's taken a rest, we can battle," the girl offered.

"Then why not put him in a Poké Ball so he can rest?" Gary asked.

"Because he doesn't like them," Young Mia answered as innocently as possible. "I'm sorry, mister Oak, but I really have to get going."

"Well okay, so long. I'll be waiting for that battle."

"Wait, stop her!" came the voices of Professor Oak and his aides. Gary looked at them puzzled as Young Mia heard them approach and she turned to run.

"What is it Gramps?" Gary asked.

"That girl stole Bulbasaur!" Professor Oak answered.

At that, Bulbasaur stopped and turned, yelling, "Bulbasaur bulba, bulbasaur!"

"I didn't steal him," Young Mia cried. "Bulbasaur chose to come with me of his own free will! _You_ were the one who stole him earlier!"

She then turned to flee the scene, but Gary ran after her, yelling, "Squirtle, use Water Gun on the girl!"

"Squirtle!" the young bipedal turtle-like Pokémon cried as he unleashed a stream of water Young Mia's way. Young Mia turned to see the water stream rushing towards her when two vines grabbed the girl and pulled her out of the water's path. Once Young Mia was safely out of the Water Gun's path, Bulbasaur then turned to face Squirtle, growling. Young Mia then grinned, revealing that her previous, flirtatious personality was nothing more than a façade and that she was, in reality, a warrior whose skill and will to fight was without equal.

"It looks like you'll be getting that battle after all, Gary," Young Mia stated plainly, showing her eagerness for a fight, casting off her guise of being an innocent yet flirty girl. "I've been looking forward to this opportunity. And I must say, after the way you've treated Ash, I'm really going to enjoy this."

"Yeah, and you'll be the first to be beaten by Gary Oak," came Gary's cocky response. Gary then looked down at Squirtle and cried, "Squirtle, use Tackle!"

"Bulbasaur, wait until it's close and use Leech Seed," Young Mia countered.

Gary was surprised at that strategy. However, the girl figured that Squirtle had an edge in that his ranged attacks could strike from farther out than Bulbasaur's, but that Squirtle's ranged attacks were still easy to dodge if performed from far away.

Squirtle charged towards Bulbasaur, lowering its head in order to tackle the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon, Gary figuring that using not very effective attacks would not get him anywhere. Still, he was caught off guard by Leech Seed. As for Bulbasaur, when Squirtle was close, he used Leech Seed on the Pokémon, several seeds erupting from the bulb. The seeds struck Squirtle and adhered to the turtle, growing into vines that surrounded him. Still, the seeds did not stop Squirtle's momentum, which carried him into Bulbasaur, the turtle-like Pokémon ramming his head into Bulbasaur's causing some damage to Bulbasaur and forcing the Grass/Poison-type Pokémon back a few steps. However, as soon as the attack connected, the Leech Seed drained energy from Squirtle and transferred it to Bulbasaur. Still, Squirtle was far from finished.

"Squirtle, use Tackle again!" Gary commanded, pointing at Bulbasaur.

"Vine Whip," Young Mia countered as Squirtle lowered his head once more and charged Bulbasaur, the Leech Seed still draining energy from the Pokémon.

As soon as Squirtle was within range, Bulbasaur shot out his two vines and whipped Squirtle twice, the second one sending Squirtle flying back towards Gary, the Pokémon landing on his back. Once he landed on his back, dazed for a moment before he started flailing his arms and legs, doing his best to right himself once more. Gary looked on in shock at how the girl was battling. She simply looked at him and crossed her arms, tapping her foot.

"I'm waiting," she said impatiently.

"For what?" Gary asked.

"For you to right Squirtle so we can continue this battle. I don't want to win like this."

Gary rushed over to Squirtle and turned him over. He then whispered into Squirtle's ear, "Listen, close range attacks aren't getting it done. Stay back and use Muddy Water. I know that Bulbasaur has a resistance to it, but it's better than nothing and it may lower his accuracy."

"Squirtle," the bipedal turtle answered.

Squirtle then stomped the ground and sent a wave of brown, muddy water towards Bulbasaur. As he did so, he felt the effects of Leech Seed drain him of more energy. Bulbasaur did not need Young Mia to tell him to dodge, which he attempted to do. He managed to avoid taking the full brunt of the attack but still suffered an indirect hit. He also felt his accuracy decrease. However, that would not matter, for once the attack was finished, the last of Squirtle's energy was drained and the turtle-like Pokémon fell over, swirls in his eyes, indicating that he had fainted.

Gary looked down at Squirtle and then at Bulbasaur and Young Mia in utter shock. "I lost?" he said, unable to comprehend that he could lose. His cheerleaders practically broke down, sobbing at his defeat. Professor Oak was also as shocked at his grandson's loss to Young Mia as Gary and his cheerleaders were. Young Mia had a different reaction.

She ran over to Bulbasaur and gathered him into her arms and swung him around in celebration. "Oh yeah, you rock Bulbasaur!" she cried exuberantly.

After a minute of celebrating, she put Bulbasaur down and looked back at Professor Oak and the others. "Bulbasaur will be coming with me if he chooses to."

"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur declared, falling in line next to Young Mia.

She then looked down at Bulbasaur proudly and declared, "Bulbasaur, we're going to go on a journey to recruit more friends, win the Pokémon League, and most importantly, take down Team Rocket and become Giovanni's worst nightmare!"

"Bulbaaaa!" Bulbasaur exclaimed exuberantly in full agreement with Young Mia's goals. With that, the two began their journey, a journey that would change the region, and possibly the world. That was when the world seemed to change once more.

The world then seemed to present a montage of pictures for Dreaming Mia as Young Mia seemed to be walking towards her on a small representation of Earth, growing little by little in the process with Bulbasaur first evolving into Ivysaur, a slightly larger Bulbasaur with its bulb having bloomed. Ivysaur was soon joined by other Pokémon such as Staryu, a brown starfish-like Pokémon with a red core; Jolteon, and Cloyster, Pidgeot, a large brown bird with a multi-colored crest, and a Growlithe, a dog-like Pokémon that had a tiger-like pattern of stripes on its fur. Eventually, Ivysaur evolved into Venusaur.

Along with the Pokémon, Dreaming Mia saw that the pictures were now moving and depicting her various past accomplishments. One of the pictures, now seemingly a movie, depicted her getting her eight Kanto badges. Another depicted her fighting Team Rocket, along with Giovanni's shock and horror at realizing that the girl he was facing was the very girl that he had kidnapped two years earlier. His Persian and Kangaskhan were shown getting brutalized by Venusaur as he used Giga Drain on each Pokémon, taking them down. She also saw her younger self defeating various Trainers, as well as Gary Oak too many times to count.

The montage continued as she saw herself fighting more gym leaders, one of them turning out to be none other than Giovanni, the Elite Four, and the Champion, who turned out to be Gary Oak. She defeated each of them six to zero, not losing a single Pokémon in the process. After winning the Kanto League, she continued to participate in other competitions such as the National Pokémon Stadium competition where only regional Champions could participate. She won those battles too, though she sometimes had a Pokémon faint, though that was rare and only occurred after said Pokémon had already taken down an opposing Pokémon.

As she watched the movies, she could see her representation gradually growing and her Pokémon changing. Pidgeot and Growlithe were eventually replaced by a Larvitar and a Lapras. Lapras was eventually replaced by Gible, a small bipedal Pokémon that a large head resembling that of a shark. Staryu evolved into Starmie and Larvitar eventually evolved into Pupitar, the pupa form of the species, which eventually evolved into a proud and exceedingly powerful Tyranitar, who was only surpassed by Venusaur, and only because Venusaur was more versatile due to having support moves like Sleep Powder. She also saw herself participating in the World Tournament, Champions Division, winning that by beating the likes of Lance, Cynthia, Iris, and even Red and Ethan.

She also saw herself becoming the nightmare of Team Rocket, her having stopped numerous plans. First, she encountered them in Mount Moon, stopping them from getting Pokémon fossils. She also stopped them in the Pokémon Tower as well as storming their hideout in Celadon City and beating Giovanni. She later singlehandedly ended the siege of Silph Corporation, beating every single Rocket in the building, along with Giovanni once again. She then saw her younger self facing down and beating Giovanni a third time for her eighth Kanto badge. After that, she helped deal with other Team Rocket plans in Kanto and whenever she found the odd Rocket during her travels around the world. She also noticed that no matter how many times she defeated Giovanni or Team Rocket, they were never truly defeated. Even when he was arrested, he and other high-ranking Rockets would always get off due to some technicality. It had always annoyed her at how useless adults seemed to be, always needing her or other children to defeat problems that they should have taken care of without difficulty.

As the montage and movies continued, she saw herself grow until her younger self became identical to her dreaming self. She saw snippets of her battle with Ash where he finally defeated her, though it seemed as if she had either thrown the fight or had tested a new strategy that had failed. She also saw her battle against Team Rocket, the raid on their headquarters, her capture and subsequent escape, all of which were still fresh in her mind. Still, as the movies continued, she could not see their resolutions, almost as if something was stopping them. Eventually, the world came to a stop and the dreamscape suddenly disappeared.

She awoke suddenly, finding herself sleeping in a comfortable bed in a room that was decorated with plush red carpets and ornate suits of armor. She sat up and looked around, seeing Ganondorf standing over her.

"Well, how are you?" he asked in as kind a tone as he could muster. "Have your memories returned?"

Mia thought back to the dream, some of it was still there but the rest was slipping away. "I remember some things," she answered. She thought back to the dream and remembered her mother's seeming affair with Marcus, an agent of Team Rocket, and later with Professor Oak and she seethed, something that Ganondorf was quick to notice.

"Is something wrong?" he asked gently.

Mia shook her head. "Just some bad memories."

"Can you remember your name?"

Mia thought back to her dream and remembered that her name was always buzzed out by something. "No," she answered, shaking her head. She then looked over at Ganondorf and asked, "Can anything else be done? I need to know who and what I am!"

Ganondorf gave a kind smile, but inwardly he was grinning. The truth was that even _he_ did not know if his spells could restore the girl's memory entirely. The fact that she remembered bad memories was surprising, but also helpful. Still, he could tell that her overall personality remained unchanged. As such, he knew that he only had one real choice at the moment. It was the only way he would ever be able to gain control of her abilities and knowledge, while not allowing her to regain her own mind.

"Yes," the former Gerudo king answered. "Just go back to sleep and we'll begin immediately."

Mia nodded and lay back down on the bed. Ganondorf waited for her to fall asleep and when she did, he brought over a box. When he was certain that she was sound asleep, he opened the box, revealing dark purple and black orbs that gave off a seeming black mist or energy. He grinned. He would have her as a member of the Subspace Army, even if the only way to do so were by having her possessed by Shadow Bugs while he wiped her mind of everything except her knowledge and skill. He then cast the spell to cause her to forget her dream as the Shadow Bugs converged on her and entered her body, taking full control of it.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

Meanwhile, back in Kanto, Ash made his way through the forest, following the map back to the village. He traveled off the path but kept close to it so as to not get lost. Along the trail, he saw a few Rocket Grunts along with their Koffings patrolling the forest. He carefully avoided the patrols, keeping to the forest far enough from the trail not to be detected, but not so far that he would lose the trail. His other concern, though, was his Pokémon following him. They would be far easier to spot and were much noisier as they crashed through the brush, particularly Tyranitar. So far, though, the Rockets had yet to spot him or even suspect that there was someone not too far away from them. In fact, they seemed preoccupied with something else entirely.

After an hour of following the trail, he eventually came to a small Poké Mart that was situated in a small clearing. It was a relatively small building with a gray exterior and a blue roof. There was also a tall sign with a Poké Ball symbol spinning around next to it to draw attention to the small mart. Looking at the surroundings, Ash and his Pokémon noticed a small trail that broke off from the main trail led to the small convenience store. He quickly scanned the area to make sure that there were no Rockets patrolling the area. Once he was certain it was clear, he dashed to the store and proceeded to enter, telling all of his Pokémon, save for Pikachu, who could stand on his shoulder, to stand outside and keep watch. They soon arrayed themselves around the building and sign in such a way as to make it seem as if they were not necessarily together, but merely waiting for their Trainers to finish shopping inside the mart.

Inside the mart, just as Ash and Pikachu entered, the proprietor of the store shot up looked out from over the cash register. He was middle aged, with brown hair and green eyes with a slightly stocky build. Upon spotting Ash and Pikachu, he said, "Ah, a customer. You're the first one I've seen since the explosion at Pokémon League Headquarters."

"Explosion?" Ash asked, this being the first he had heard of the explosion at Pokémon League Headquarters.

"There was an explosion at Pokémon League Headquarters. President Jean Mercier and the rest of the League Committee, save for Giovanni, were killed in the blast. As such, Giovanni is now in charge of the World Pokémon League. I heard that he proclaimed himself as the strongest Trainer in the world during the World Tournament, but he was beaten by a Trainer called Nate, and later by Leaf."

Ash gritted his teeth at hearing that Giovanni was now in control of the Pokémon League. Even worse was that his family had likely been taken to Pokémon League Headquarters. "Were there any other casualties?" the boy asked.

"Only some guards," the proprietor answered. "There were a few prisoners that were taken there but they had been taken away before the explosion. Sad. If there were criminals there, _they_ should have been the ones to die."

Ash did not say anything to correct the proprietor as to the nature of the prisoners and mere kept quiet. "Where is everyone else?" he eventually asked, noticing that he was the only one in here, and that it did not look like there had been a lot of traffic in the store recently.

"Probably getting as far away from the League as possible," the proprietor shrugged. "Almost everyone here knows of Giovanni's Team Rocket connections. Many say that he's even the true leader behind the group. If that's true then we're all in a lot of trouble since he's basically now in charge of the Pokémon World."

"What about the Gym Leaders?"

"There hasn't been much news from them as of yet, which surprises me. My guess is that they're likely plannin' something, but I don't know when they're gonna make their move. I hope it's soon because TR's takeover has been really bad for business."

Ash smiled and then continued to scan the store for various items. It was not long before he found some Full Restores and Max Potions, along with a few Max Elixirs. He quickly went back to the entrance to get a basket to store his items as he cleaned off the shelves of the Full Restores, Full Heals, Max Potions, and Max Elixirs. There were far fewer of each item than he had initially anticipated, and hoped for, but he figured that the ten of each that he had found, save for the Elixirs, of which there were only six, would be enough. Looking at the prices, though, he figured that he would not have been able to afford many more, even with the cash that his father had given him. The last thing he looked for were some Max Revives. He found a small selection of them on an otherwise unoccupied shelf close to the cash register. There were only four of them. He then placed them inside his basket and took everything up to the proprietor. The proprietor rang up Ash's order and once it was finished, Ash paid him the necessary Poké Dollars. After he had paid the owner, the owner called, "Thank you, come again," as the young teen left the mart.

As soon as Ash had departed, the proprietor went over to a phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, there was an answer. He then said, "Hey, you know the new Champion, Leaf's twin brother? Well, I think he's still alive." There was a pause as a voice spoke over the phone. He then continued, "Because I saw him come into the store and buy some merchandise. He went for the high-end stuff, too, the Max Revives, Max Potions, Full Heals, Full Restores, and Max Elixirs. This kid means business." There was another pause as the voice on the other side of the phone spoke to him. "You got it, boss," he said. "Is there anything else you need from me?" The answer was quick to come. "Understood," the proprietor finished. He then hang up the phone and reached underneath his desk. He pulled out six Poké Balls and clipped them to his belt. He then removed his small vest, revealing a black shirt with a large red R in the middle. He grinned as he shut down the cash register and shut off the power to the store and left. Aizen was right. The boy was alive. Now all he had to do was follow him and attack from behind when the main force went to attack him.

Meanwhile, Ash continued to follow the path towards the monorail track, which would lead him to the League Headquarters. As he walked, he periodically checked behind him to make sure that he was not being followed. The proprietor of the shop followed behind him at a distance, careful to stay out of sight. Unfortunately, he was unable to avoid detection by Ash's Pokémon. The proprietor had not seen Krookodile burrow into the ground and follow Ash at a distance, keeping only his head above ground. He had gone forward to alert the others that someone was following him. He had first contacted Greninja, who went forward to alert the others down the line as to the potential enemy behind them. By the time the warning had reached Ash, he had already figured that someone was following him. "Thanks for the update guys. Pikachu and I can handle it. You go on ahead. Prepare for Plan B, though, if something unexpected occurs. If you see the monorail, stop and wait for us. We don't want to be detected prematurely."

The Pokémon affirmed the order and the others went forward while Ash and Pikachu stayed back and waited for the shop proprietor to come by. When the proprietor came by, the red R was visible to Ash, confirming what Ash and Pikachu already suspected. The Poké Mart's proprietor was a member of Team Rocket. The boy soon stepped out and cried, "Hey!"

The Rocket nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Ash's voice as he stepped out from behind him. When the Rocket saw that it was Ash, though, his surprise quickly turned into a grin. "So you noticed me," he began. "I must say I'm surprised you found me. But I was prepared, just in case." He then grabbed two Poké Balls and held them in front of him. "And now, you'll find that I'm a lot more difficult to take down than you imagined."

He then opened the Poké Balls and a Koffing and Grimer appeared. "Go Pikachu!" Ash cried as the two Pokémon began the battle by unleashing a duo of Sludge Bombs Ash's way.

Ash moved to his right and dodged the balls of sludge with ease, the two balls landing a few yards away, the poisonous clouds resulting from their explosions not managing to reach either him or Pikachu. Pikachu then jumped off his shoulder and powered a Thunderbolt. Electricity crackled around his cheeks and then he unleashed vicious streams of electricity towards the two Poison-type Pokémon and the Rocket. The bolts of lightning struck the two Pokémon and Rocket and each gave a pained groan as electricity arced across their bodies. The Pokémon and Rocket then fell to the ground unconscious. With the Rocket and the only two Pokémon he had deployed having been dealt with, he and Pikachu rushed on ahead to rejoin the rest of his Pokémon. As he made his way past the fallen Rocket and Pokémon, the temptation to finish them off was strong in his mind, remembering what failing to let Mia kill Giovanni had resulted in. Still, this Rocket was not Giovanni and he knew that the Rocket was no real threat to him. As such, he simply made his way past the Rocket and departed, but not before smashing the Rocket's phone so that he would not be able to alert his superiors to the fact that the boy was still alive.

The group continued to make their way forward, Ash following the map on his datapad. After an hour-long march, the group finally found their way out of the forest and near the monorail station. The monorail was completely automated and it did not have a driver to speak of. Ash would have already been hesitant to use it, but since it was designed for human travel and it was too small to fit some of the larger Pokémon, such as Charizard and Tyranitar, riding it was not an option. However, the track _would_ lead him back to the village, where it would not be too long a trek to Pokémon League Headquarters, and hopefully to his mother, friends, and any information on the current whereabouts of his twin sister. Just as that thought entered his mind, a flash came to him and he suddenly had the feeling that the League Headquarters would be his final destination in the search for his sister as well.

Wasting no time, he mounted Charizard, Pikachu still on his shoulder, and told the Fire/Flying-type, "Follow the monorail track. It should lead us back to the village."

Charizard grumbled a question back at Ash, which he took to translate as Charizard wondering whether or not going to the village was a good idea. Pikachu also echoed Charizard's concerns. "We don't have a choice," Ash replied sternly. "My family and friends are there. I have a bad feeling that something's happened to them. We have to get there as quickly as possible."

Charizard then nodded confidently and began to rise into the air. Ash then called down to the others, "Follow us as quickly as possible. We'll try to maintain a slow enough speed so that you don't fall behind."

The other Pokémon voiced their approval and they quickly followed Ash and Charizard as they flew, following the monorail track. As they followed the track, Ash and the others scanned their surroundings, wanting to make sure that they were not being tracked by Team Rocket. So far, though, there were no indications of any Rockets or allies of Team Rocket following them. Still, the group did not let down their guard as they continued to follow the monorail track all the way to the village.

Eventually, the group made it to the village. During their last leg of the voyage, they had encountered only one Team Rocket patrol, which had quickly been dispatched by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu and a Flamethrower attack from Charizard. Other than that, there were no hindrances to overcome.

Meanwhile, Aizen's party was quickly making its way to the village. They did not know how Aizen had managed to learn that Ash was alive and coming to the village, but he did and he had dispatched them to deal with him. Cynthia and Lance rode their Garchomp and Dragonite respectively, while the others rode hoverbikes to keep up with the Dragon-type Pokémon. Lance and Cynthia quickly went over to Professor Oak and Tracey and asked over the relatively faint but still noticeable whine of their bike's engines, "What Pokémon can we expect Ash to use in his battle against us and what will his strategies be? Aizen indicated that he may fight us differently this time."

Professor Oak was taken aback for a moment after having been asked the question, as if he remembered something and that this was not the course of action that she and the others should have taken. He then convulsed for a second, causing his bike to swerve. He then got a hold of it and got back in formation with the others. "I don't know," he answered truthfully.  
"Everything about Ash changed when he found out about Mia. But chances are that he will use Pikachu and Charizard at the very least. If I had to guess, I would say that he would likely use the same team he used against Mia, or whatever Pokémon from that team are still alive."

"There were several Pokémon not accounted for after the battle at Team Rocket Headquarters," Tracey added. "I did not find a Poké Ball for Charizard, Greninja, Krookodile, or Mia's Tyranitar. Chances are that those Pokémon are working alongside Ash."

The others nodded as they continued on their way, fingering the Poké Balls that they had brought with them. They all had a large number of Pokémon with them and since Professor Oak and Tracey were not official Trainers and, thus, not confined to the six Pokémon limit. Even more importantly, since Ash's Pokémon were always kept at Professor Oak's lab, he had access to almost all of Ash's Pokémon.

Not far away, Aizen watched from the back of a massive dragon that he kept cloaked using his magic. The dragon was a classical dragon from various stories and legends. It was large, far larger than even the largest Dragon-type Pokémon, standing at about forty feet high on all fours. However, it could stand and walk in bipedal fashion as well. It had dark blue scales and a tannish gray underbelly that was also covered in scales just as hard as those on its back and head. It could also breathe fire that could literally turn a city the size of New York into ash, molten slag, or glass in seconds. "Are you sure this plan will work?" a deep masculine voice echoed from the dragon. To anyone else, the voice would have been thunderously loud. However, to Aizen, the dragon's voice was quite normal and possibly even a little quiet.

"Yes," Aizen answered succinctly, nodding. "I wouldn't be carrying it out if I didn't think we would win. There's no way Ash can deal with Lance and Cynthia, Tracey, and Professor Oak plus any of my Pokémon. And that's before any Rocket patrols that manage to catch up to him. He'll need help and the Gym Leaders are too busy trying to plan their move against Giovanni to risk getting to him in time. The attack will occur within minutes from now at the latest. Mewtwo will almost certainly detect the spell I used on them, especially once I strengthen it as the battle continues. He'll be Ash's only hope. And also, Ash is his only human friend. There's no way he won't come to save him, especially with no help forthcoming from any of his other friends." The dragon almost scoffed at the rather long-winded process that Aizen used to justify his reasoning.

The dragon then turned its head towards Aizen, his gaze narrowing. "Can you defeat Mewtwo?" was his next question.

Aizen grinned. "Yes I can," he answered, fingering his Poké Balls.

"But he defeated Aglara and Aramon," the dragon countered cautiously. "He also defeated Dark Arceus, a Dark-type Pokémon. There's no telling just how powerful he has become."

"I won't be going into this fight alone," Aizen assured his steed. "I have six Legendary Pokémon at my side, plus you, and whoever else shows up. Mewtwo won't be able to defeat us, plus six Legendaries, at least two of who will have a type advantage over him. This is in addition to the fact that I no longer have my people's crippling weakness to psychic powers. If anything, I may even have a resistance to psychic powers. The only problem will be getting Mewtwo to come."

The dragon was not entirely convinced but he let the argument lie. He trusted his master enough to know that Aizen was not suicidal. If there were any doubt as to his ability to defeat Mewtwo, he would not be so eager to fight him. Still, there was the issue of Mewtwo having had a part in the deaths of Aizen's children. He felt wisps of Aglara's power flow through him, so he knew that Aizen had managed to absorb what was left of her power before she had succumbed to her wounds. He just hoped that Aizen's power did not go to his head, and that his lust for vengeance would cause him to fight foolishly against Mewtwo. He knew that enemies like Mewtwo could be very crafty if they wanted to be. Mewtwo would be more than willing to adjust his normal battle strategy if Plan A was not working. All he could do now, though, was wait for the arrival of Mewtwo, and for the battle to begin.

Back at Pokémon League Headquarters, Giovanni went over the recent reports that were being made by the team leaders. So far, several teams that had been patrolling the forest had been lost. Matori had reported that the owner of a Poké Mart, who was secretly a member of Team Rocket, had reported seeing Ash Ketchum and he had seethed. It appeared as if Aizen's caution was well placed. While Giovanni did not know how powerful Ash really was, he figured that if he had actually managed to beat, or even tie with, Mia, then he was a formidable Trainer, indeed. Still, he had a feeling that Ash was not as dangerous as his nemesis had been, though things may have changed since the last reports had indicated that Ash had been killed when Team Rocket Headquarters had been scuttled. Still, he was only one boy. He doubted that he would be able to stop his goals, especially since they hinged on Gideon's mission to take over Goldenrod City's Radio Tower. He did not want to take any chances, though, and soon contacted Archer and the other Executives. Opening a channel, he said, "Archer, Ariana, Proton, Petrel, come to my office immediately."

He shut down the channel and waited for the four of them to enter his office. After a few minutes, they arrived, looking puzzled as to why they had been summoned. Once they were assembled, he told them, "I want you four to go down to Gideon and go over the plans for the assault on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower. I don't want anything to go wrong on that end of our plans."

"Yes sir," they replied in unison. Archer then asked, "Sir, do you wish any or all of us to accompany Gideon in the assault?"

"No," Giovanni answered, shaking his head. "I'll need you four to stay here. You'll coordinate security here for the time being."

"Are you expecting to be attacked, sir?" Ariana asked, her voice not quite able to mask her concern.

"That depends on if Aizen's plan is successful."

"What do you mean?"

"Leaf's twin brother, Ash Ketchum, is still alive. He somehow survived the destruction of Team Rocket Headquarters and was cured of his condition."

"What condition was that?" Proton asked.

"He had suffered from the abilities of the Lake Guardians Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. His mind had been wiped, his will destroyed, and his emotions taken from him. Now, though, he has been fully restored. If that is the case, then we're facing a different Ash Ketchum from the one who had troubles dealing with Jessie, James, and Meowth. I need you all to be ready. The last thing we need is for him to come knocking on our door, especially with his sister having escaped from and destroyed Mahogany Town Base."

"Yes sir," the four Executives responded in unison. They then departed and went to carry out Giovanni's orders. The Rocket Boss then reached down and scratched his Persian on the head. The cat-like Pokémon gave a purr and leaned into his petting. While Giovanni knew that Aizen's plan was sound, he could not help but wonder in the back of his mind if the Rocket Officer had an ulterior motive.

When Ash and his team arrived at the village, they entered to find it deserted. Charizard landed for a moment, allowing Ash to dismount for a second, and the group stood at the entrance to the village. He quickly spotted the hotel where he had celebrated his and Mia's birthday yesterday. Pokémon Stadium, where the Championship Battle had taken place, was visible in the distance, too. He quickly searched for, and spotted, the village's Pokémon Center, but was hesitant to go and check the Pokémon into the center. He scanned the rest of the area and he found an information booth not too far away. He quickly went over and peered into it and found that it contained brochures containing maps of the entire village and the plateau. He picked up one of the brochures and opened it up, studying it. He grimaced as he found that the actual Pokémon League Headquarters was on the other side of the plateau and a ways away from the Stadium and the village. It would take quite a while to reach the stadium by foot, so he figured that it would be best for the Pokémon to rest before making the long journey to the headquarters.

As Ash and the others began to approach the Pokémon Center, a bolt of blue electricity struck the ground right in front of Ash, throwing up dirt and debris. Ash quickly dove to the ground and looked around, trying to see where the electricity had come from. Soon, another stream of electricity came his way, prompting Pikachu to jump off his shoulder and fire off a Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt intercepted the blue lightning attack, which Ash recognized as Discharge, and the two electrical attacks collided in midair before repelling one another.

As Pikachu was dueling with an unknown Pokémon, a stream of fire was unleashed towards Ash from behind a building. Ash, seeing the fire come his way, dove out of the way of the stream and crawled along the ground to search for some cover as the stream of fire followed him. He soon found a wooden barrel to hide behind but knew that it would not be a safe hiding spot for long since the wood of the barrel would quickly catch fire, even if there were water inside. Sure enough, it did so and he was forced to find another form of cover quickly or be incinerated by the attack.

As Ash was searching for cover, he cried to the others, "Take cover! We're under attack!"

The Pokémon were quick to obey, with Tyranitar and Charizard quickly searching for any building where they could obscure themselves from view but still have a good view of Ash and what was certainly going to be a battlefield. Scrafty dove behind a bench, while Krookodile burrowed deep beneath the ground, only keeping his head above ground so he could see whom the attackers were and where they were coming from. Once Pikachu had managed to fight off the Discharge attack, he quickly scanned for Ash. Finding his friend darting behind a tree, he rushed over to support him.

Ash peered out from behind the tree and saw a Typhlosion and a Pachirisu step out into the middle of the village, which Ash was now taking to calling the town square, or the battlefield as it was about to become. They were followed quickly by a Venusaur and a Blastoise. Ash's eyes went wide, for he could have sworn that he recognized those Pokémon. The way that the Venusaur and Blastoise moved were eerily reminiscent of the way May's two Pokémon of the same species walked and moved. That was worrisome since if, somehow, they were indeed May's Pokémon, then that meant chances were that Typhlosion and Pachirisu may have belonged to Dawn. Ash did not believe in coincidence, at least not since he got his memory back.

He quickly went to formulate a plan, one that would be made more difficult with him not being able to use deadly force against what could be his friends' Pokémon. Peering out from behind the tree, he saw Typhlosion direct Pachirisu to the building where Tyranitar was hiding. Ash thought about yelling out in warning to Tyranitar, but resisted, since the Armor Pokémon could use Earthquake to take them down quickly. Meanwhile, Venusaur and Blastoise were splitting up, making their way towards Ash and Greninja respectively. He then saw two more Pokémon appear on the scene. These were Infernape and a second Blastoise. This Blastoise, however, was wearing sunglasses. Ash's eyes widened with shock at the sight. What was his Blastoise doing here? More importantly, why was he working with Team Rocket? He carefully looked at the faces of the other Pokémon and noticed that there was something off about them. He could not quite put his finger on it, but they were definitely not themselves, and it showed in their expressions.

"Pika pika Pikapi!" Pikachu warned as Blastoise turned towards him and noticed him. He quickly dove back behind the tree but it was already too late. Two large streams of water erupted from Blastoise's hydro cannons and zeroed in on Ash and Pikachu. The two dove out of the way of the Hydro Pump, with Pikachu retaliating with a Thunder attack, an attack that he had not used in a long time. It was more powerful than Thunderbolt, but harder to control and aim properly. The stream of lightning it the water of Blastoise's attack and the electricity traveled back through the stream of water and electrocuted the turtle-like Pokémon. Blastoise gave a cry of pain as he suffered through the attack, electricity arcing across his body, but he was too resilient to fall to just one Thunder attack.

"Blastoise, blas, blastoise!" the Water-type Pokémon cried, alerting the others to the location of Ash and Pikachu.

The others immediately turned and prepared to launch their own barrage of attacks, only to face enemy return fire from multiple directions as Ash's other Pokémon began their counterattack. Venusaur had managed to get a volley of Razor Leaf off, but the leaves were incinerated by a Flamethrower attack from Charizard. Infernape quickly went to charge Ash, using Flame Wheel, and rolled straight into an Air Slash from Charizard. The shuriken-like blades of wind scored a direct hit on the Pokémon and knocked him off course and caused him to barrel straight into Venusaur. Venusaur gave a loud cry as she sustained the direct hit and suffered significant damage. This gave Ash and Pikachu a chance to search for more cover and come up with a better strategy for facing down their friends' obviously mind controlled Pokémon.

It would not be long, though, before another stream of electricity came Ash's way. Pikachu launched another Thunderbolt to intercept it and again, the two electric attacks repelled one another, this time, Pikachu's reflected lightning bolt landing scant feet behind him, nearly striking him. Something then came to Ash's mind and he fingered the Light Ball inside his pocket. He quickly realized that it was tied to a collar. Remembering from his studies that the Light Ball could double Pikachu's special attack, he took it out of his pocket and told Pikachu, "Buddy, I'm gonna give you a Light Ball and tie it around you like a collar. This'll double the power of your physical and special attacks. Take that into account when you fight everyone."

"Pika!" came the response as Ash tied the ball around Pikachu's neck loosely enough so that he would not have any breathing problems.

Ash then peered out from behind the tree and soon saw more Pokémon arrive. He quickly recognized May's team, consisting of the already present Blastoise, and Venusaur, along with the newly arrived Blaziken, Beautifly, a beautiful butterfly-like Pokémon with yellow, blue, and red markings on its wings; Glaceon, and Delcatty. Along with May's team, came Dawn's team, consisting of the already present Pachirisu and Typhlosion, followed by Piplup, Mamoswine, Togekiss, and Lopunny. Following the two teams of Pokémon were May and Dawn, themselves. They wore their usual clothes and not a Team Rocket uniform, but he could tell by the looks in their eyes, as well as the tones of their voices as they issued commands to their Pokémon, that they were working for Team Rocket. Ash's eyes went wide with shock, sadness, and anger as he saw two of his best friends commanding Pokémon in the name of Team Rocket. He knew that they would not be working for Team Rocket voluntarily. Someone, or something, had to be controlling them.

He stared at them and he soon saw their images flicker for a second, almost as if they were wearing holographic suits. He then grimaced. Team Rocket must have been impersonating his friends, anticipating that the Pokémon would listen to their commands. He listened in as Dawn commanded harshly in a voice that sounded similar to Dawn's but was different enough for Ash to know that it did not belong to his friend, "Search the area. If you find him, kill him! If you encounter any other Pokémon, kill them too. The others should be arriving shortly. Finish the job before they get here!"

Dawn's Pokémon immediately nodded and gave cries of affirmation. The figure impersonating May soon gave similar orders, commanding, "You heard Dawn's orders. Those are mine to you. Now get out there and kill that boy!"

May's Pokémon, too, gave cries of affirmation and nodded as they went out in search of Ash. He quickly ducked back behind the tree, but was not fast enough, for Beautifly turned and spotted Ash ducking back behind the tree. It gave a shout in warning as it flapped its wings, performing Silver Wind. Ash took cover behind the tree as it was being buffeted by wind, which carried silver sparkles along with it. He soon saw a blizzard approaching the tree, trying to encase it, and whatever was hiding behind it, in a sheet of ice. Ash dove out from behind the tree and saw the two girls. "There!" the two girls cried, pointing towards Ash. Their Pokémon immediately turned and went to charge him. Pikachu, however, quickly jumped off of Ash's shoulders and powered a Light Ball enhanced Thunderbolt. He took aim at the closest of the Pokémon, May's Blaziken and unleashed it. Pachirisu quickly intercepted Pikachu's attack with a Discharge of its own. It was quickly joined by Lopunny using Ice Beam in support, causing Ash's eyes to widen with surprise, especially since it gave Charizard and the others an opening to launch their own attacks. Ash noticed, however, that Infernape and his own Blastoise were still waiting, as if someone else had yet to arrive.

Ash's Pokémon quickly emerged from their hiding places and opened fire on May and Dawn's Pokémon. Charizard unleashed a stream of flame towards Pachirisu and Lopunny, the Flamethrower attack washing over both Pokémon, knocking them to the ground and inflicting a great deal of damage to both Pokémon. Blastoise and Piplup quickly turned to deal with Charizard, unleashing streams of water his way, but Tyranitar and Pikachu quickly went over to support him, Tyranitar grinning darkly as he focused his gaze on Piplup, remembering the annoyance from the hotel. It was time to show the diminutive penguin what power really was. Charizard managed to dodge the two Hydro Pumps but he left Blastoise and Piplup to Tyranitar and Pikachu.

Meanwhile, Greninja and Krookodile emerged from cover, too, and quickly went to engage the enemy Pokémon. They targeted whoever was currently unengaged. Beautifly, Glaceon, and Delcatty were the first to engage the two Dark-type Pokémon, which put Greninja and Krookodile at a disadvantage. However, it would be Beautifly and Glaceon who would suffer since Krookodile knew Stone Edge and did not hesitate to use it against the Bug/Flying-type and Ice-type respectively. The Stone Edge wrecked Beautifly, inflicting four times the normal damage to it, taking it out in one hit. Glaceon lasted a little bit longer, using Blizzard to try and intercept the rocks. Some managed to get through the snow and scored direct hits on the Ice-type cat-like Pokémon. The second Stone Edge was more than enough to finish off Glaceon, knocking it unconscious. As for Greninja versus Delcatty, Greninja was quite capable of beating a Contest Pokémon. He jumped towards Delcatty and unleashed a Water Pulse, scoring a direct hit on Delcatty squarely in the head. The hit was sufficient to knock her unconscious.

Elsewhere, Ash watched as the girls spotted him and drew out Ray Guns identical to those used by Team Rocket. They took aim at him and fired, but their aim was off and their shots sailed wide of Ash. He countered by picking up some loose stones from the ground and throwing them at the weapons, being careful so that should he miss, that they would not take hits in the head. The two girls dodged his throws with ease and targeted him once more, firing more shots from their guns, prompting Ash to take cover behind a bench.

As he dove behind the bench, the two continued to fire on him, the green energy blasts punching large holes into the bench, showering him with green wooden splinters. However, despite the volume of fire, they did not manage to score a single hit on him. This gave him hope since there was no way that they should have missed him when all the bench had actually managed to do was hide him from their sight. He soon heard their guns click as they ran out of ammunition.

Seeing this as an opportunity to try to bring them to their senses, he emerged from cover, prompting them to charge towards him, tossing their now useless Ray Guns at him. He dodged the incoming throws and stared as the two girls charged him. Staring into their eyes, all he could see was malice, but there was something wrong with it. These were not the eyes of his friends. They belonged to someone else. That clinched it for him. Someone was either impersonating May and Dawn or had them under some form of extremely powerful mind control.

May was the first to reach Ash and began the fight by throwing a punch at his head. He quickly ducked her blow and thrust his palm towards her chest, wanting to get her attention and put some distance between them but not actually injure her. He was successful in thrusting her away as his strike hit her squarely in the center of he chest, forcing her to take a few steps backwards. Next to enter the fray was Dawn. Her expression was identical to May's, showing the same malice and sadism. Still, she was a far more ferocious, and skilled, fighter than he had anticipated as she thrust her leg towards him in a side kick. He knocked the kick down, only for her to try to punch him in the head. He ducked the punch and performed a leg sweep, sweeping her legs out from under her, causing her to fall to the ground. May quickly recovered, though, and reengaged Ash, charging straight into him, knocking him to the ground. There, she jumped on top of him and put her hands around his throat, gritting her teeth as she put all of her strength into the choke. Ash reached up and grabbed her wrists to try to pry himself free, but found that she was stronger than he anticipated. He soon brought his arms in and tried to get her to break her hold on his throat as he was continuing to gasp for air. He soon thrust them to the side and attempted to knock away May's arms. As he did so, though, Dawn jumped on top of him and gripped his hands, pinning them to the ground. She knew that her strength could not match Ash's, but if she could hold his arms down for long enough, May's choking would eventually render him unconscious, and eventually lead to his death.

Ash would not have any of that, though, as he quickly thrust his leg upwards, hitting May in the shin. She gave a cry of pain and her grip on his throat loosened. He then shoved her off him, coughing and gasping for breath, and quickly returned May's attack, jumping on her and pinning her to the ground. As he pinned her arms to the ground, he looked into her eyes, pleading, "Stop this May. This isn't you! We're friends!"

"Die, friend!" was the girl's only response as she grinned sadistically and attempted to kick Ash, only for him to pin her legs to the ground with his superior weight.

Dawn quickly came over and tackled him, knocking him off of May. Ash rolled along the ground and rose into a fighter's stance. Suddenly, two hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him a few feet away. The grip was strong, like that of an adult's. Turning his head, he saw what looked to be his mother looking straight into his eyes. She had the same expression as May and Dawn. Behind her were what looked like most of Ash's stronger Pokémon, even those not used in the Championship. He easily identified Snorlax, Sceptile, Serperior, Donphan, and his own Blastoise, still wearing his sunglasses. Infernape was also present, as were Glalie, Staraptor, and Swellow. He stared into his mother's eyes, pleading with her not to give in to whatever spell had been cast on her. She merely grinned once more and said, "Our mission is to kill you. You may have escaped the destruction of Team Rocket Headquarters, but you won't escape us now."

She then curled her hands into a fist and hit him hard in the abdomen, forcing the air from his lungs. The hit was far stronger than he would have anticipated from her, almost as if she was either peak human or borderline superhuman strength. He keeled over, coughing and holding his stomach as 'Delia' went to kick him again. This time, he was able to react and sidestep the kick. Still, he would not dare fight back against his own mother, only prompting her to grin.

As for some of the other battles, Charizard had finished off Lopunny and Pachirisu with contemptuous ease, while Pikachu had shocked May's Blastoise and Dawn's Togekiss into unconsciousness with one Thunderbolt each. However, Pikachu and the others noticed something different about his Thunderbolt attack, as there was a golden glow that surrounded the bodies of the Pokémon hit by it after the attack had ceased. The glow eventually died and there appeared to be no aftereffects from the glow, though since recipients of the attack were knocked out, any potential aftereffects might have been masked. Had they remained conscious, though, Pikachu would have noticed that the spell was partially scrambled by the power of the Light Ball enhanced Thunderbolt. Pikachu could already feel the extra power in his electrical attacks and knew that with this, he would be able to take down a large number of Pokémon that did not have a type advantage against him in little more than single hits, but he also felt something else in his attack. The energy that was emerging had a purity about it that he did not expect, and could scarcely imagine. It was not like anything else he had ever felt before. He grinned and plunged himself into the battles, knowing that their only hope was to fight.

As for Tyranitar and Piplup, the small penguin-like Pokémon had opened the battle by launching a Hydro Pump Tyranitar's way. Despite his bulk, Tyranitar was surprisingly agile and was able to dodge Piplup's attack with surprising ease. Piplup then decided to use another attack, this time, Whirlpool. A whirlpool of water appeared above Piplup's beak as it gazed up into the sky as it prepared to use it on Tyranitar. What the penguin had not expected to see was the massive form of Tyranitar crashing through the water, bearing down upon him. His eyes went wide with fear and he gave a cry of absolute terror just before Tyranitar landed right on top of him, squashing flatter than a pancake. A massive cloud of dust was thrown up as the dinosaur-like Pokémon landed on the penguin. The ground beneath them cracked and Tyranitar stepped back to examine the flattened form of Piplup. Piplup gave a groan of discomfort as Tyranitar retreated. The Armor Pokémon was surprised that Piplup was still able to speak, somewhat, in his flattened state. The flattened form began to ripple as if he were paper.

Tyranitar then reached down and grabbed Piplup. Scanning the battlefield, he saw Ash's mother, along with May and Dawn, facing off against his Trainer's twin brother. Not caring about the fact that Delia was Ash and Mia's mother, or that May and Dawn were Ash's friends, he tossed the now Frisbee-shaped Pokémon towards the trio. The penguin scored a direct hit on Delia, hitting her squarely in the abdomen. The strike knocked Delia back and gave Ash a chance to put some distance between him and his mother. Dawn and May, however, quickly came to support Delia as they stood in front of her. This turned out to be an unfortunate mistake on their part since Tyranitar's grudge against Piplup prompted him to launch a Stone Edge barrage towards the penguin, not caring who got in the way. In fact, the fact that Dawn was in the line of fire only made Tyranitar grin even more. The stones that were targeting Piplup, who had just re-formed back into a penguin, landed among May and Dawn, the shocks to the ground knocking them down and causing them to scatter.

As May and Dawn scattered, Ash went to face off with his mother once more. Delia charged towards him and threw a punch directly at his head. It was fast, but telegraphed and he was easily able to avoid it. She was soon rejoined by May and Dawn, though, and Ash was constantly put on the defensive. He ducked a second punch from his mother while simultaneously raising his hand to parry a kick from May. That left Dawn free to attack him. Still, the girl telegraphed her attack and Ash was able to move out of the way and perform a leg sweep, knocking her off her feet. The sweep also hit his mother and knocked her down, too. He then ran away from them as quickly as possible, only to be met by Professor Oak and Tracey. Studying their expressions, he grimaced as he found that they, too, were under the same mind control as his mother and other friends.

They slowly approached him, seemingly straining to give kind, reassuring smiles, but he easily saw through their deception. Tracey soon took out two Poké Balls and let out Scizor and Venonat. He soon grabbed his remaining Poké Ball and let out Azumarill, too. Professor Oak also released a group of Pokémon, which Ash quickly recognized as all belonging to him. His entire team, save for his Unova and Kalos Pokémon not present at the League and those who had been with him in the raid on Team Rocket's Headquarters and had managed to escape with him, was assembled before him. Bayleef was the first to attack, launching a volley of Razor Leaf his way. He dodged the razor-sharp leaves only to find a jet of water erupting from Totodile's mouth. He dove to the ground, allowing the Water Gun attack to pass over his head. Looking up, he saw the blue alligator-like Pokémon charging towards him, his mouth wide open. He thrust his leg out and struck Totodile with the side kick right in the head. The force of the impact sent Totodile flying in the opposite direction, where he crashed to the ground and skidded for a couple of meters before coming to a stop, dazed but not unconscious.

"You should treat your Pokémon better," Professor Oak chastised mockingly. He then steeled his gaze on Ash and cried, "Everyone attack!"

Ash saw the onslaught coming as almost all of his Pokémon were charging directly at him. He attempted to flee, but he soon saw his mother, May, and Dawn, coming at him as well, along with their Pokémon plus the rest of his team that were currently under their control. Help would soon come, though, as a blast of Thunder struck Totodile, Buizel, an orange cross between a sea otter and a weasel with a cream underbelly, blue fins on its paws, and two tails, and Corphish, a red and cream-colored crustacean-like Pokémon. The attacks managed to take down the Water-type Pokémon with little more than single hits. As it had before with Blastoise, a golden sheen of light surrounded the Pokémon for a few seconds before dissipating. In addition, for a second, Ash thought that he could see his Pokémon returning to normal. However, just as soon as he had noticed them returning to normal, he saw them quickly snap back under the control of whoever was controlling them. Pikachu was not the only one assisting Ash, though.

Charizard lent his power to the battle, taking on Torterra, a large turtle-like Pokémon with a plant growing in the middle of its back; and Bayleef, taking down Bayleef with a single Flamethrower attack, while he used Fire Blast to deal with Torterra. He soon also took down Heracross, a large beetle-like Pokémon covered by a blue exoskeleton that could split to reveal wings, as well as a long pronged horn protruding from its forehead with a second Flamethrower attack. He then dodged an Ice Beam fired from Glalie, returning fire on the Ice-type, taking it out with a single stream of fire.

Not too far away, Greninja and Krookodile were having their own issues dealing with the other Pokémon. Greninja was doing his best to fend off a large herd of Tauros, while Krookodile ran from the rest of the team so he would have space to use Earthquake, and deal with Infernape, Torkoal, and Ash's Typhlosion. Ash's Pokémon rushed after the fleeing bipedal crocodile-like Pokémon and eventually, seemed to have him cornered. That was when Krookodile grinned and stomped the ground, using Earthquake. The ground shook and split beneath them and the Fire-type Pokémon all lost their footing and fell to the ground, suffering a great deal of damage, with Typhlosion fainting and Infernape and Torkoal on their last legs. Still, they had Pokémon from May and Dawn's teams to contend with as they went to support the Pokémon of Ash's that were under Aizen's control. Not only that, but Ash's own Garchomp soon entered the fray and began to engage the two Pokémon, more than holding his own against them.

Ash dodged a barrage of attacks, both ranged and close combat, from a variety of Pokémon as he attempted to get into a better position to defend himself from his mother and friends. Pikachu covered him, using Thunderbolt on Azumarill, taking her down with a single hit, while temporarily disrupting the spell's control over her, something that Ash was quick to notice. As the electricity arced across her body, Ash saw the Pokémon's eyes return to normal, despite her groan of discomfort. Seeing this, he told Pikachu, "Pikachu, your Thunderbolt seems to interfere with the spell's ability to control your targets!"

Pikachu immediately powered down his attack and searched for another Pokémon to free, only to find May's previously defeated Blastoise attack him once more. Pikachu gasped in shock, remembering how he had shocked him before while still having the power of the Light Ball, no less. It seemed as if a constant current was needed in order for the effects of the spell to be neutralized, a fact Ash found out the hard way when Delia rushed him once more and grabbed him in a bear hug.

"You won't escape now," she told him in a sinister tone as she threw him to the ground and placed her fingers around his throat. Ash attempted to breathe as his mother closed her grasp, choking him. Her larger size and strength meant that he would not be able to break her grip nearly as easily as he had May's. He lashed out at her arms, trying to make them sore so she would loosen her grip but he had no such luck. It was then that he remembered the Pendant of Memories and hoped that it would be able to cure her of her brainwashing. As he struggled for breath, he went to reach into his pocket to grab the pendant when May and Dawn jumped on top of him and pinned his arms to the ground. Just as he felt himself begin to get lightheaded from lack of air, he was jolted upwards as a charge of electricity hit him. He soon heard Delia give a cry of annoyance as much as pain as her grip loosened and she slumped over on top of him. Ash felt himself being pulled along the ground away from his mother. Looking up, he saw Tyranitar dragging him along as Pikachu continued to shock the girls and his mother. "Keep it up, Pikachu!" he cried. "A constant stream will be needed!" He also noticed that a sheen of golden light was surrounding them. He figured that as long as that light surrounded them, that the effects of the spell would be negated.

Pikachu continued the attack, lowering the voltage and current so that only a small charge emerged from his cheeks. As soon as he was powering down the attack, though, the images of Delia, May, and Dawn began to flicker as if they were short-circuiting. Soon, the images of the girls and Delia disappeared and instead, the image of three individuals in dark gray suits with orange faceplates. Electricity arced across the figures as red Rs could be seen on their chests.

Just after Pikachu had defeated the Rockets that were impersonating May, Dawn, and Delia, though, a reddish-white beam of energy collided with the ground near Pikachu and created a large explosion, throwing up a great deal of dirt and debris. Pikachu was flung through the air and he landed several meters away from the blast. Looking up, Ash and his Pokémon saw Lance and Cynthia, Lance on his Dragonite, and Cynthia standing beside her Garchomp. A feeling of dread came over Ash as he could tell that they were under the control of whatever spell was controlling his Pokémon and those of his friends. Pikachu slowly rose so he could face off against the newcomers, quickly gasping and backing away in horror as he realized that it was Lance and Cynthia that he and Ash would have to fight. While he and the others were doing well enough against Ash's Pokémon, and those of his friends, for the moment, he figured that it was merely due to the fact that they used type advantages and the fact that the spell seemed to sap some Pokémon of their battle intelligence, or that the Pokémon were fighting the spell and, thus, not fighting _them_ to the best of their ability.

Cynthia and Lance turned and looked down upon the battlefield as they saw Ash's loyal Pokémon assembling around him, ready to defend him against the newcomers. In terms of type advantages, though, they were of no concern. The only one that had an attack that had a type advantage was Charizard, though Charizard's Dragon Pulse was nothing to sneeze at, especially if Ash Mega Evolved Charizard. Looking down at the group, the two Champions soon unleashed the rest of their teams, consisting of Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, Altaria, Gyarados, and Aerodactyl for Lance; and Garchomp, Spiritomb, Lucario, Milotic, Braviary, a large bird-like Pokémon with a red top and a dark blue underside, with white feathers on its face; and Eelektross, an eel-like Pokémon that resembled a lamprey with a blue coloring on top with yellow spots and a cream-colored underbelly. Continuing to focus on the party below, they told their Pokémon, "Attack!"

Their Pokémon were about to comply when a loud cry echoed across the battlefield. "Hold!" the voice declared.

Cynthia and the others immediately stopped everything they were doing and waited, as if they were robots subservient to the voice. Ash and his Pokémon scanned the entire area to see what the source for the call was. They soon found it when they saw a small skimmer hovering above the town. It looked to be able to hold half a dozen people on its top deck and was armed with two cannons that looked to be energy cannons. Standing near the front of the deck was a man with brown hair and red eyes. His Team Rocket uniform was readily visible. Despite being dressed like an ordinary Grunt, Ash and his Pokémon had a feeling that this newcomer was different, and far more powerful than an ordinary grunt.

The skimmer soon came to a stop and landed and he jumped off, landing on the ground more softly than a leaf falling from a tree. He looked at the fallen Rockets in the strange suits and scoffed, "Pathetic."

He then faced Ash and appraised the young teen as he looked him over. As he landed, Cynthia and all of the others under his spell turned to him and genuflected before him, their right arms crossing their chests. "What is thy bidding Lord Aizen?" they all asked in unison. The scene horrified Ash as he suddenly realized that it was Aizen that was controlling his friends and mother directly.

"What have you done to Professor Oak, Tracey, Cynthia, and Lance?" Ash demanded, not mincing words.

Aizen turned and grinned at him. "You're most definitely assertive," he noted almost approvingly. He walked towards Ash seemingly without a care in the world, as if no one present could harm him. Pikachu put that to the test as he unleashed a massive Thunder attack his way. A large stream of electricity rocketed from the rodent directly to the man. The bolt scored a direct hit on him and electricity arced across his body, a golden sheen glowing about him, a telltale sign of the Light Ball's effect. Much to everyone's shock, though, the attack did not affect him in the slightest. Ash's eyes went wide in shock and he stepped back.

"Maybe if you had used that Light Ball powered attack on me a year ago, you'd have done some damage, if not outright killed me. But I've gotten over my weakness to the Light since then." He gave a laugh.

"Who are you? What are you?"

"I will be your new master, Ash Ketchum. As for my name, I am Aizen, ostensibly a member of Team Rocket, but my true allegiance is to myself."

He then began to chant in an unfamiliar language. Pikachu's eyes flashed as he suspected that it was a spell, and it may very well have been what was controlling Professor Oak and the others. Wasting no time, he fired a weak Thunderbolt at his Trainer and best friend just before the figure's chant was finished. While the chant was still being performed, the figure raised his hands and a ball of pulsing emerald energy formed above him. The ball grew in size until it was the size of a small boulder. Eventually, the chant was completed and the "Rocket" threw the ball at Ash. Ash tried to dodge the attack but the ball simply homed in on him and scored a direct hit. Fortunately, Pikachu was still able to track his friend with his Thunderbolt and keep the connection.

The ball scored a direct hit on Ash and the energy immediately broke free of the ball upon impact and surrounded him. However, the golden sheen of light seemed to form a shield and the emerald energy was unable to make contact with Ash, himself. Eventually, the energy dissipated as the golden glow continued to surround Ash. Ash looked up and grinned. "Looks like whatever you were trying to do didn't work."

Aizen grimaced for a second before grinning once more. "I wouldn't celebrate just yet," he cautioned. "If I can't control you, I'll just have to destroy you," he said casually.

He pulled out two Poké Balls and opened them. Out came a bipedal bug-like Pokémon with a purple metal body and a saucer-shaped head with two large red eyes. The body was thin but it looked to be quite strong. Strapped to its back was a massive cannon with a blue light on top. Ash's eyes went wide as he recognized the Pokémon as being Genesect, a Pokémon that had been developed by Team Plasma but had never been officially used because of N's objections. The next Pokémon that came out was a feminine anthropomorphic figure with music bar-style streaks in its hair, which was green and flowing, resembling sheet music. It also had quarter notes for arms and hands. It had large blue eyes and a jewel of the same color in the middle of its forehead. It also had a rabbit-shaped headpiece that looked like it was a microphone. Its face and legs were white while it had a black torso with a green midriff that matched its hair color. Ash's eyes went wide as he recognized the Pokémon as being Meloetta, perhaps even the same one that he had met in Unova. "Genesect, Meloetta, come forth and prepare for attack!" Aizen cried at the top of his voice.

Both Pokémon nodded and awaited the order as the rest of Aizen's forces formed up around him. He then held his hands up high in the air and, bringing them down, cried, "Attack!"

With that, Genesect and Meloetta led the charge towards Ash and his Pokémon, followed quickly by Professor Oak, Tracey, Lance, Cynthia, and all of their Pokémon. All Ash and his Pokémon could do was launch a first strike at their former friends, hoping to find some way of escaping, and pray for a miracle.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Mewtwo was standing on a hotel roof overlooking Bourbon Street in the city of New Orleans. His eyes were closed as he was meditating and extending his psychic senses so he could perceive happenings all around the world. Much of United Earth was quite peaceful and the people seemed content. That was not necessarily the case in the Pokémon World. The people there were still on edge. With his parents all partied out and still resting, he found that this was the perfect opportunity to find out what was going on. He quickly found out as he sensed the rise of a power that he thought had been vanquished several months ago at the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. "Oh no," he mused with dread as he sensed the power start to grow, along with the presence of others surrounding it. Not only that, but he sensed that Ash Ketchum, his one human friend, was facing down this power on his own, with only five Pokémon while his enemy had a small army behind him. He then exhaled a sigh and said, "So this is how it shall be."

As he was about to teleport to Japan to face down his enemy, Mew appeared behind him and called, "What is it son? Where do you think you're going? You still have to learn how to…"

"Please be quiet Mom," Mewtwo blurted, unable to contain his frustration. "Something more important than partying has come up. I have a power and a responsibility to use it to protect this world and the few friends I have in this world are fighting and losing a terrible battle."

"That's a human problem," Mew retorted, almost desperately. "Come back inside. We can play some more games."

"No Mom," Mewtwo answered sternly. "Not this time. I was praying that this day would not come, but come it has. I have to finish something that was started at the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. I will be going now. Don't wait up."

"Wait!" Mew called to her son. "Don't go! It's too dangerous!"

That got Mewtwo's attention. Turning back to his mother, he asked suspiciously, "What do you know of this?"

Mew turned her gaze downward and then admitted, "Not much. Only that this power is greater than anything you've faced before, save for Dark Arceus."

"But I managed to defeat Dark Arceus," Mewtwo countered reassuringly.

"You had help then," Mew said in counterpoint. "And you still got lucky at the end. I don't want your luck to run out."

"It won't Mother," Mewtwo assured her. He then looked her in the eye and asked seriously, "Is this enemy the reason you had us take this trip?"

Mew shook her head. "Not at first. But when we did sense it, I convinced your father to take us here to New Orleans's Bourbon Street in the hopes that the noise would drown out what was happening back in Japan." Mew then went to hug her son. "Please Mewtwo. Don't do this. This enemy might be powerful enough to kill you! I couldn't bear the thought of losing you."

Mewtwo gave a reassuring smile. "You won't."

With that, he vanished from Mew's sight. Her mate soon appeared on the roof and noticed that their son was gone. "Did he go?" the male Mew asked.

Mew nodded. "He's off again to save some people. All we can do right now is pray for his safe return."

The male Mew nodded and then both Pokémon began to pray fervently for the safe return of their son, and the success of his endeavor.

Back in Indigo Village, Ash and his Pokémon fought desperately against the seemingly endless horde of enemy Pokémon under Aizen's control. Still, for every one Pokémon on Ash's team, there were at least seven Pokémon that were fighting against them, Aizen already having restored all of the previously fainted Pokémon on his team to fighting shape. Despite the desperation, though, Ash and his team were still making some headway. Bayleef and Torterra had fallen once more to a Flamethrower stream from Charizard and Pikachu had taken down Totodile and Buizel once more. Greninja knocked out a Tauros with a single Hydro Pump, which had launched the bull-like Pokémon into two others, taking them out of the fight at least temporarily, giving Ash an avenue for retreat.

The human boy quickly took advantage of the hole and retreated, only to face off against Cynthia. Not letting chivalry get in his way this time, he lowered his shoulder and barreled his way through her, knocking her to the ground. Not stopping to continue the fight, he ran forward, only to come face to face with Meloetta and Genesect. Pikachu quickly arrived to cover him, as did Greninja. Genesect began the fight by firing its massive cannon Pikachu's way, a blue pulse of energy being unleashed from the cannon as Genesect used Techno Blast. The attack scored a direct hit on Pikachu and knocked him unconscious. Genesect was about to finish off Pikachu when Charizard fired a Fire Blast his way. The Fire Blast struck Genesect squarely in the chest, forcing it backwards a few steps, inflicting only light to moderate damage to the Bug/Steel-type Pokémon before Aizen healed it. Ash quickly went over to Pikachu to use a Max Revive to restore him to health, but Meloetta appeared in front of him, barring his way.

Meloetta then began to sing Relic Song. As she sang, all of Ash's conscious Pokémon, save for Charizard and Tyranitar, were enthralled by her singing and either fell asleep or simply stared at her in awe. As she sang, though, she began to change a bit. Her hair and eyes turned red with her hair curling up into a bun. The black extension that resembled a skirt stood out on edge, as if forming into a tutu. Instead of a singer, Meloetta now resembled a ballerina. Charizard attempted to use Air Slash on her, and Tyranitar attempted to use Superpower, but she quickly vanished, using her superior speed, and appeared directly in front of Tyranitar. She then began punching and kicking him, unleashing a flurry of attacks that the large Rock/Dark-type Pokémon had difficulty defending against. As the volley finished, she launched one final kick, which sent Tyranitar flying through the air. He landed several meters away and skidded along the ground, leaving a large furrow in the dirt. He was dazed and was slow to rise, but he eventually managed to do so, greatly surprising Aizen.

That was when Ash decided that his only chance to win was to go all out and use Mega Evolution. "Charizard, it's time!" he called, echoing his twin sister's alert that she was about to Mega Evolve her Pokémon. "Mega Evolve!" he cried as he touched his Key Stone.

Immediately, his Key Stone and Charizard's Mega Stone began to resonate and Charizard instantly transformed into Mega Charizard Y. Just as he Mega Evolved, Meloetta rushed towards him and unleashed a flurry of attacks against the Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. Charizard withstood the initial volley of attacks and quickly rocketed into the air to avoid Meloetta's Fighting-type attacks. He then unleashed an Air Slash her way, which traveled much faster than it had initially due to the power of his Mega Evolution. Still, Meloetta was agile enough to avoid the attack and danced away from the spinning blades as they gouged into the ground and threw up a cloud of dust. Tyranitar then appeared from behind and tried to use Stone Edge, but Meloetta put an end to that by using Focus Blast on him, forcing him to array the rocks as a shield in order to protect himself from taking another hit from a Legendary Pokémon.

Not caring about finishing off Tyranitar, or dealing with Charizard, though, Meloetta quickly disengaged from them and returned her attention to Ash, who was trying to find an avenue of escape for himself and his Pokémon friends. She appeared directly in front of him, along with Genesect, and she began to sing another song. Ash dreaded that it was likely Perish Song, which it was. However, just as she began to sing, an unknown force hit her and Genesect, flatting them into the ground as if they had both been hit by pile drivers, throwing up a cloud of dust. Once the dust settled, both Pokémon could be seen, swirls in their eyes, indicating that they had fainted. Everyone gaped at the scene in shock. Both Genesect and Pirouette Forme Meloetta had been knocked unconscious with a single hit.

Aizen merely scoffed and looked down at the ground knowingly. "So you finally came," he said knowingly, in a satisfied tone. As he raised his eyes to face Genesect and Meloetta's attacker, he almost complained, "What took you so long?"

Ash and his Pokémon looked up and saw Mewtwo hovering above the battlefield, his eyes glowing a deep blue. "If you were so eager to fight me, why didn't you just call?" Mewtwo asked in a serious tone.

Aizen smirked. "I did. What do you think this was?" he asked, motioning towards the battle between Ash, his Pokémon, and his friends. Ash took the opportunity the lull in the fighting had given him to go over to Pikachu administer to his needs, giving him a Max Revive to restore him to perfect health. Once Pikachu was revived, he went over to Tyranitar and gave him a Max Potion to heal the damage that Meloetta had inflicted on him. Soon, both Pokémon were healed and ready for battle, whenever it would continue. Aizen had not cared about Ash healing his Pokémon, merely continuing with his explanation, "I knew that I would get you out of hiding if I threatened your one, your only, human friend. And now that you have finally emerged, I will finally have my revenge," he finished ominously.

Aizen's Team Rocket uniform then disappeared in its entirety, replaced by ornate golden armor, a golden helmet, a broadsword that looked to be made of gold, a spear, and a bow and arrow slung over his shoulder. Long pointed ears were also visible, leaving no doubt in Mewtwo's mind that Aizen was a Magic Lord. Aizen merely gazed up at Mewtwo and grinned sadistically. "Today, I shall avenge Aglara and Aramon. Today you will die! And when you do, I will then kill all of your friends and family!" he declared.

"No, you won't," Mewtwo responded grimly. He then focused down on Aizen and the two warriors vanished from Ash's sight. As soon as they vanished, so did Genesect and Meloetta. That was the cue for the fighting to begin again.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

The group instantly reappeared deep inside of Cerulean Cave, on the very island that Mewtwo made his home. The moment they reappeared there, Mewtwo assumed a fighter's stance as he scanned his surroundings to make sure that no one would be caught in the fighting. Aizen scanned the surroundings as well and scoffed. Mewtwo turned his focus to Aizen, performing a cursory scan in order to glean the true power of the Magic Lord. While he had experience fighting Magic Lords before, having fought against Aglara and Aramon, with neither of them being all that difficult for him to defeat on their own, he strongly suspected that Aizen was stronger than the both of them put together. However, his scan hit a mental wall as barriers quickly rose in the Magic Lord's mind, shutting him out. What happened next, greatly surprised Mewtwo. Aizen then went to scan the cat-like psychic Pokémon's mind, forcing Mewtwo to erect a mental barrier of his own. His eyes glowed as he erected the barrier and went to try to scan the Magic Lord's mind again, trying to force Aizen to force the Magic Lord back on defense. His attempt was only partially successful as he Aizen continued to use his magic to try to pierce Mewtwo's defenses, while reinforcing his own. Still, Mewtwo's psychic defenses were too great for the Magic Lord to pierce, with none of the barriers falling, though one did sustain some damage. The two then stared at one another, trying to gauge the other's true power.

"I must say that your mental defenses are strong," Aizen admitted. "Still, that means nothing in the grand scheme of things with respect to our powers. Mental defenses are not only psychic or magical, but also spiritual."

"Psychic powers also have a spiritual component to them," Mewtwo replied.

"It still means nothing. I _know_ that I am stronger than you!" he roared. "And I will prove it by killing you!"

Mewtwo made no response as he lifted himself into the air and formed a barrier over his body. Aizen gave a cocky grin and drew his golden broadsword. The sword glowed as he pointed it up into the sky. Suddenly, a lightning bolt seemingly came down from the ceiling and the sword became electrified and began to glow. He swiped the sword towards Mewtwo and a blast of energy erupted from the sword. The energy bolt struck Mewtwo's shield but inflicted no damage. Mewtwo had a feeling that that attack was not all that serious, though, and that Aizen was merely trying to gauge his strength. His suspicion was soon confirmed when Aizen rushed towards him and jumped into the air, trying to bring the sword down upon his energy shield. Aizen thrust his sword downward and the blade hit the shield, which flared a few feet away from the body of the psychic cat-like Pokémon.

Aizen continued to push down on the blade in an attempt to breach the shield but met with little success. His cocky expression soon vanished and became more strained as he struggled to breach Mewtwo's energy shield. He gritted his teeth and began to grunt as he continued to make little to no headway. Mewtwo simply remained still, descending a bit until he softly reached the ground, content to let Aizen waste energy against his shield. He, too, wanted to gauge Aizen's power and ability, since he had a feeling that Aizen was stronger than either Aglara or Aramon, and possibly stronger than both combined. Neither Aglara nor Aramon had been a match for him when he was at full strength, but he did not want to take any chances with Aizen. They had merely been youths, but from what he remembered of the scans taken, they had been strong for their age. Since Aizen was their father, then it was also likely that he was stronger than a normal Magic Lord, too.

Eventually, Aizen realized that his sword would not be able to breach Mewtwo's shield on its own. Chanting an alien spell, an electrical field soon surrounded the blade and it began to make more headway against Mewtwo's shield, breaking through and slowly making its way towards Mewtwo's head. Mewtwo grimaced and tightened up his shield, the electrified sword stopping in its tracks. "That's a magical version of PSI Thunder," Mewtwo noted.

Aizen grinned. "So you're familiar with such attacks," he came back. "Did you learn of it from Aglara?"

Mewtwo nodded.

"I'm a lot stronger than my daughter," Aizen warned. "I won't be so easy to kill."

Still, as Aizen forced more electricity into the blade, it still would not move for him. Eventually, he saw no choice but to pull the blade back and jump away. He vaulted into the air and performed a back flip, landing with more grace than a gymnast ten meters away from the psychic bipedal cat-like Pokémon. Glaring at Mewtwo, he sheathed the sword and took a different approach.

Electricity soon crackled around his fingertips and he extended his hands towards the psychic Pokémon. Streaks of lightning erupted from his hands and lashed out at the bipedal psychic cat. The bolts of lightning struck Mewtwo's shield, causing it to flare an electric blue as the lightning arced across it, but the shield refused to fail. Aizen soon grimaced. "It looks like you've improved since your battle against my children," he called, trying to stroke Mewtwo's ego so he would become more cocky and arrogant, hopefully causing him to fight foolishly and thus, giving Aizen an opening where he could kill him.

Mewtwo did not take the bait, though, and simply retaliated by extending his paws forward, blue waves of energy forming around them. He launched the waves at Aizen, forcing him to raise a rudimentary shield over himself. The energy waves collided with his shield, causing it to flare an emerald green for a second before they collapsed and the rest of the waves scored direct hits on his body and armor. He grunted with the hit as the energy waves exploded, covering him in a cloud of smoke. The force of the explosion tossed him from the smoke cloud, smoke still trailing his body as if he were a stricken jet that had been shot down by a missile, and he collided with the ground a dozen meters away or so, skidding a few more meters before coming to a halt. He slowly rose, his expression showing he was more angry than hurt.

He did not let Mewtwo's counterattack get him down, though. He soon extended his hands and pink balls of energy formed in front of his palms. He then thrust his hands forward and the swirling pink balls of energy rocketed towards Mewtwo. The psychic Pokémon then disappeared from sight, allowing the balls to pass through empty space. Aizen began to sweat as he frantically looked around to see where Mewtwo would reappear. He soon felt a massive weight hit him in the back as he felt Mewtwo's Psystrike make contact with him once again. He gave a cry of pain as he took the hit and was shoved forward. He hit the ground face first but quickly recovered, slamming his hands to the surface of the arena and pushing off. Turning around, he performed a flip and landed on two feet, facing Mewtwo once more.

This time, though, he had a different idea. He raised his shield once more, pumping even more energy into it than he had the first one, and he drew his sword. As he drew his sword, he held it high in the air and began to chant a spell. Mewtwo kept his distance, knowing that Aizen was a skilled swordfighter and that any close combat engagement would likely end badly for him. Still, Aizen had shown himself to not be nearly as strong as he had dreaded. He had not had to use his full power against the Magic Lord and he was still winning. Still, he was suspicious that Aizen may have been holding back, for he was having no more difficulty against him than he had against Aglara and Aramon. This could not be all there was to Aizen's power, not if he had any hope of beating the psychic cat.

Aizen's chanting soon finished thrust his sword into the ground. Immediately, jets of magical water burst from the ground around Mewtwo and flew up to the cave's ceiling, where they quickly expanded and spread out, forming a wall. Mewtwo fired an Aura Sphere at the wall of water to blast it down, only to find the sphere touch an electrical field in the water, dispersing the attack. He grimaced. Aizen was skilled, and he was showing a lot more power and imagination than before. That was when Mewtwo started to smile. He was finally getting a glimpse of Aizen's true power. The wall of water and electricity closed off any normal means of escape and began to close in on him. Mewtwo simply closed his eyes and used his telepathy to lock onto Aizen's location on the island at the center of the lake. As he did so, the water prison began to close in on the psychic Pokémon.

Mewtwo immediately vanished from the prison just as it converged in on itself and burst forth in a magnificent display of water and lightning. Aizen smiled as he felt Mewtwo's presence disappear for a moment. His smile vanished, though, when he found himself hurtling through the air, landing hard on the ground two-dozen meters away from his launch point. As he rose, he quickly saw several more blue energy waves converge on him. He swore and covered his face as his shields took the first of the impacts, but quickly fell, leaving him vulnerable to the rest. With each subsequent hit, he was knocked backwards, grunting with each blow. He staggered backwards and fell to the ground. He could sense the power in the Psystrike and knew that if it had struck the Earth uncontrolled, that it would have at the very least leveled a couple of continents, if not cracked the crust of the planet and possibly even split it in two. He had known that Mewtwo had been powerful, but this power took him completely off guard. He looked up and saw Mewtwo floating in the air, staring down at him, his eyes glowing. Mewtwo had sustained no damage in the fight at all, so far, and he was already using his healing spell for the second time. It was the first time that he had ever truly felt fear for his own life. How could Mewtwo be so powerful? Could he have possibly underestimated Mewtwo's strength so drastically?

He slowly rose and realized that he had no real choice. He would have to change the rules a bit if he wanted to have any hope of winning. To that end, he chanted another spell. Mewtwo reinforced his shield, not using Calm Mind. He did not want to use that technique unless it was absolutely necessary. Still, as he faced down Aizen, he was beginning to wonder if the Magic Lords' reputation was greatly inflated. There was no way he could ever see someone like Aizen ever truly being a threat to a world on his own; not if this was all there was to his power. He then shook off the thought. Aglara and Aramon were dangerous enough on their own, despite merely being youths. There was no way that Aizen would not be noticeably stronger then them.

Aizen, however, did not seem to be all that concerned yet. He still had options. The Magic Lord gave a confident grin as five Poké Balls emerged from his belt, rising into the air and growing in size until they were slightly larger than baseballs. Aizen then slammed his hand down on the ground, yelling, "Summoning!"

Immediately, six Poké Balls appeared around Aizen. The balls immediately opened and released the Pokémon they contained onto the battlefield. Mewtwo scowled as he recognized one of the Pokémon as Genesect. The next Pokémon to emerge was Meloetta, the other Pokémon that Mewtwo had taken down with a single hit back at Pokémon Village. Next onto the field were Darkrai, a black ghostly Dark-type Pokémon with two arms and long white billowing ghostly hair, long arms, with hands that had clawed fingers; and Cresselia, a swan-like Pokémon with a blue body, a yellow underside, and two magenta tufts that form an arc across her chest. Cresselia also had pink ring-like wings on her side and back, along with two crescent moon-like ornaments on the sides of her head. The final two Pokémon were Jirachi and Victini. Jirachi was a small, white humanoid-looking Pokémon with short, stubby arms and legs. There was a third seam on its belly that looked like it was a closed eye. It also wore a yellow headdress that slightly resembled a star with three tags at the ends of the points. It also had two yellow streamers trailing it on its back that looked like the tail of a comet. As for Victini, it was a small, rodent-like Pokémon with cream colored fur, large round blue eyes, large ears that formed a V, and two wings in the back.

As the Pokémon emerged, they arrayed themselves before Aizen to square off against Mewtwo. Aizen gave an arrogant smirk as his army stared at Mewtwo. "How do you like these odds Mewtwo?"

Mewtwo gave a confident smile. Aizen must not have learned much about him, for if he had, he would have realized that despite these Pokémon being Legendary Pokémon, they were far from being his equals. Even fighting together, he still had the advantage. Indeed, the one that had a type advantage against him was also weak to one of his favorite techniques. He quickly returned his expression to neutral, not wanting Aizen to realize that he may have just made a tremendous mistake. Still, the confident Pokémon looked to be spoiling for a fight.

Mewtwo looked on and steeled himself for the impending assault. He quickly opened his psychic senses to make sure that there were no surprises waiting for him. As he did so, he sensed another presence watching from a distance. He could not scan any further to deduce the power of the new onlooker without revealing to both the newcomer and Aizen that he was holding back a significant portion of his power, but he had a feeling that the newcomer was quite powerful and would make for a difficult opponent should he wish to fight the Psychic cat-like Pokémon. For an instant, though, he thought that he could get a reading and that there was something different about the new watcher, something exceedingly powerful and that needed a certain weapon in order to neutralize, but that with that weapon, the onlooker's power, particularly against the weapon's wielder, would be greatly reduced. He also got a sense of darkness surrounding him as well and he realized that this battle was going to be a lot more difficult than he initially imagined, for he did not want to reveal his own power level to this new observer, fearing that the newcomer would be able to use this knowledge to make a fight between them difficult if they ever exchanged blows. He quickly cut off the scan and refocused back on Aizen, keeping the presence of the new figure in the back of his mind, but guarding his thoughts so that they would not be picked up on by either Aizen, or this new presence.

As for Aizen, he had no idea that another had come to the battlefield and was watching their battle with keen interest. He only cared about killing Mewtwo once and for all. He soon drew his sword, which not glowed with a bright golden light, and pointed it high into the sky. "Servants ready!" he cried over the field.

The Pokémon all turned back and nodded in affirmation.

He then brought down his sword and cried, "Attack!"

Darkrai was the first to attack, powering a black orb in his right hand as Aizen yelled, "Darkrai, use Dark Void!"

Mewtwo grinned as Aizen gave his Pokémon the order, letting him know what attack was going to be use, allowing him to prepare for it. Darkrai powered the Dark Void and quickly launched it towards Mewtwo, but the Psychic-type Pokémon had already disappeared. Mewtwo reappeared directly in front of Darkrai, an Aura Sphere already powered in his right hand. Darkrai quickly unleashed another Dark Void just as Mewtwo shot his Aura Sphere at the Dark-type Legendary at point blank range. Both attacks hit their mark, with Darkrai being knocked unconscious by the single blue swirling sphere of energy, and the dark orb of energy phasing through Mewtwo's shield and striking the Pokémon, engulfing him in a pink bubble. The bubble surrounded Mewtwo and the Psychic-type Pokémon had to concentrate in order to remain awake. In the process, his shield fell.

Aizen took advantage of Mewtwo's shield failing and immediately appeared in front of Mewtwo, his golden sword drawn, and thrust the glowing blade towards Mewtwo. However, before the blade could reach him, the psychic cat-like Pokémon disappeared and reappeared right behind the Magic Lord. He formed a psychic energy blade in his hand and thrust it at the elf-like warrior. Now it was Aizen's turn to vanish and return behind his Pokémon forces.

After Aizen left the battlefield, Cresselia, Victini, Jirachi, Genesect, and Meloetta all appeared in front of Mewtwo, the Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes glowing as they used Psychic to try to attack his mind. Aizen also joined in on the attack, too. Mewtwo's telepathic defenses were too strong for them, though, and they failed to breach even one layer of his mental defenses. However, as they were attacking him, though, Genesect moved behind him and attacked by using Bug Buzz. Red waves of energy erupted from Genesect and lashed out at the cat-like Pokémon. Mewtwo, however, had anticipated Genesect's plan of attack and raised his shield once more. The shield reflected the attack back at Genesect, who made no attempt to avoid it. The supposedly prehistoric Pokémon did not sustain a great deal of damage since its Steel typing resisted Bug-type damage. It _would_ , however, sustain a great deal of damage from the subsequent Fire Blast that Mewtwo unleashed upon it. Mewtwo extended his hand behind him and unleashed a massive blast of fire in the shape of a human stick figure. Genesect was too slow to evade it and suffered a direct hit. Being a Bug/Steel dual type Pokémon, it suffered four times the normal damage that would have been inflicted by Mewtwo's Fire Blast. The single blast of flame was more than enough to take it down. Now, all he had to do was finish off the other four Legendaries, something that would not be difficult at all.

The other four Pokémon quickly realized that they were in trouble with the two Pokémon that sported type advantages against Mewtwo already having been taken out of the fight and went for broke as they simply powered their most powerful attacks and unleashed them upon the Psychic-type Pokémon. Blue waves of psychic energy and a V Create attack all erupted towards the bipedal psychic cat. Mewtwo was not concerned, though, and kept his attention focused on Aizen, knowing him to be the greater threat. The attacks splashed against his shield and were rebounded back to the enemy Pokémon, knocking them backwards. Meanwhile, Victini charged at him with V-create, a move where Victini's ears were surrounded by a powerful fire and its eyes began to glow. The rodent-like Pokémon then surged towards Mewtwo and collided with psychic bipedal cat's shields, creating a massive explosion. The explosion threw up a cloud of smoke that obscured the two Pokémon for a while. Eventually, though, the cloud of smoke subsided and Mewtwo was revealed to have not suffered any damage at all. In fact, his shield had not even been breached. Mewtwo then fired a single Shadow Ball at Victini, which scored a direct hit on the rodent. The strike forced the Pokémon backwards and he flew to the edge of the island, hitting the ground and eventually skidding to a halt before sliding into the water. Despite taking a super effective hit, though, Victini was still able to fight and rose to attack using V-create once more. Mewtwo gave a sigh and quickly finished it off with a single Psystrike attack before it even travel two feet, knocking the Psychic/Fire-type Pokémon backwards. The Pokémon flew across the cavern, cracking a wall on the shore upon impact, and sliding to the ground, unconscious.

As he was dealing with Victini, though, Meloetta, realizing that she was no match for Mewtwo in a direct fight, formulated a plan that she hoped would be successful in taking him down. She first tried to put him to sleep using Relic Song, despite the fact that the song only had a ten percent chance of putting its target to sleep. She did not want to risk Sing putting her remaining allies to sleep with Mewtwo potentially remaining unaffected. In addition, Relic Song would also have the effect of transforming her into her Pirouette Forme, which, while Normal/Fighting-type and, thus, making her far more vulnerable to Mewtwo's Psystrike, she thought that the tradeoff of having superior attack speed would be worth it. As she sang Relic Song, she quickly transformed into her Pirouette Forme, which caused her green hair to turn red and curl into a bun. Her eyes and midriff also turned red. She could feel her speed increase as well and, seeing that Mewtwo was still awake, knew that her original plan had failed. However, her backup plan was still in play. She gave a melancholy sigh and then attacked Mewtwo by singing Perish Song, knowing full well that her allies would also be affected by the song. It would not matter, though, since it was the only way she knew of that she might be able to affect Mewtwo and taking down Mewtwo was far more important than the safety of her allies. Besides, it would only render her, her allies, and Mewtwo unconscious, allowing for Aizen to finish him off and hopefully for him to heal her and the others.

Her beautiful voice enthralled all the other conscious Pokémon, save for Victini, who was in the process of being beaten by Mewtwo, and they simply floated there, doing nothing as she sang. The only problem with Meloetta's plan was that Mewtwo hated singing with a passion. He did not give her a chance to finish the song before he flattened her into the ground, causing her to more closely resemble a pancake than a Pokémon. Her pancaked form writhed as she groaned after fainting, swirls appearing in her eyes. It was now that Meloetta realized the gaping flaw in her plan, not that it would have mattered since Mewtwo would have been powerful enough to flatten her with a single telekinetic blast even if she had remained in her Aria Forme, which was Normal/Psychic type. Mewtwo then lifted her flattened form into the air, reconstituted it back to normal, and tossed her unconscious body over to the unconscious form of Victini.

Jirachi and Cresselia's eyes went wide as they quickly realized that they were the only two Pokémon left to deal with Mewtwo, and that they were no match for him. They each gulped as they turned to one another and nodded. They then turned to face Mewtwo and performed one last desperate attack. They each powered a last ditch Psychic attack and launched it at Mewtwo. Blue waves of psychic energy lashed out at Mewtwo, striking his shield but barely causing it to glow. The attacks were not rebounded by Mewtwo's shield, but that gave them little comfort, though, as the psychic cat powered two Shadow Balls, one in each hand. Targeting each of the psychic Pokémon, he fired the dark purple orbs of shadowy energy. Being Psychic in type, they were both vulnerable to the Ghost-type energy ball. The speed at which the orbs traveled was also amazing, leaving no time for the Pokémon to attempt to dodge. Both Shadow Balls were more than strong enough to fell each Pokémon with one hit, rendering them both unconscious.

In an all too short period of time, all six of Aizen's Legendary Pokémon had been defeated. It was a one-on-one battle once more. However, he had not been idle while Mewtwo had been beating on his Pokémon, for he had never actually expected his Pokémon to be able to defeat Mewtwo, or even cause him any significant damage. They were nothing more than disposable assets to stall for time while he put his full plan into motion.

While Mewtwo was dealing with Aizen's Legendary Pokémon, the Magic Lord, himself, had been casting a power up spell on himself all throughout the battle. It was similar to the secondary effects of Ancient Power, only it also greatly increased his health, as well as greatly raising all of his stats. He was faster, stronger, both on offense and defense, and had more health and magic than before. While before, he was no match for Mewtwo; now, he may well have been able to match the psychic, especially since he managed to negate his weakness to psychic powers when he absorbed his daughter's essence just before she would have succumbed to her wounds. There was only one thing he needed to do to tip the scales even more in his favor.

As Mewtwo was finishing his battle against the Legendary Pokémon, Aizen gave a false humph and called out to Mewtwo, "You've done well to defeat those six Pokémon so quickly. However, don't think that I'll be so easy to defeat."

"I'm giving you this one chance Aizen. Stop this battle now and leave planet Earth. Your revenge is not worth your dying."

Mewtwo's offer took Aizen off guard at first, but after a moment, it merely made the Magic Lord laugh. "Elvanheim never run away from a fight!"

"Maybe that's why you're working in the shadows rather than striking at Earth and your enemies directly," Mewtwo countered darkly. "Really. You're working with Team Rocket, a criminal organization of mortals who use Pokémon because they can scarcely afford actual military-grade equipment. You even passed yourself off as a member of the organization and were subservient to its mortal leader. Why? If you were as strong as you seem to boast, and think, you would have already destroyed your enemies without having to resort to deception and using pawns to do _your_ dirty work, as evidenced by the way you used your Pokémon just now. I know that you merely used them so you could power yourself up."

His statement struck took Aizen aback. The Magic Lord was shocked that Mewtwo had basically called out him and his people. And yet the cat-like Pokémon was right. All this time, the Magic Lords were working behind the scenes to accomplish their goals, rather than directly taking the fight to their enemies, as they had done before the disastrous defeat at the hands of the Chozo Alliance, and later, the destruction of the Dark Dragon. Aizen began to seethe. He clenched his fists so tightly that he thought his gloves would break and glared at the Pokémon. "You want to see my real power?" he yelled. "You want to see an Elvanheim unleashed? Fine! I'll show you my true power! Try this!"

Aizen charged directly at the psychic Pokémon, almost instantly appearing before him, holding his sword with both hands, ready to thrust it into Mewtwo's head. Mewtwo's eyes went wide with surprise as the Magic Lord appeared directly in front of him, sadistic grin twisting Aizen's lips as he thrust his sword towards his cat-like enemy. A green energy field surrounded the sword and it instantly breached Mewtwo's shield, surprising Mewtwo once more, and kept on going, heading directly towards Mewtwo's left eye. When the sword was a micrometer away from the cat's eye, Mewtwo vanished. As soon as the psychic cat had vanished, Aizen disappeared as well.

Mewtwo reappeared directly behind where Aizen had been and generated a blue blade of psychic energy. He had intended to thrust the blade forward, but the Magic Lord had already disappeared. Mewtwo then vanished once more, prompting Aizen to reverse his grip on the blade and thrust it backwards. However, he struck at nothing but air, for Mewtwo had, instead, teleported into the air several feet above him. The Psychic-type Pokémon quickly powered a Psystrike attack and launched a series of deadly energy waves directly at the Magic Lord. Aizen raised an energy shield and extended it out from his hand, allowing the waves of energy to strike it. The shield flared with each strike but it did not buckle or break. Mewtwo's expression did not change, though, and soon, he fired an Aura Sphere at the Magic Lord.

Aizen sliced the blue energy ball in half when it was about to hit, causing the two halves to explode well away from the Magic Lord, and grinned at the psychic Pokémon. "Not so strong now, are you?" he taunted.

Mewtwo did not give in to his taunt, though, and disappeared from sight just as a magnificent stream of flame lashed out at the space that he had occupied mere moments earlier. Aizen grimaced as Mewtwo avoided his attack. Scanning the cave's ceiling and ground, he quickly found Mewtwo reappear directly behind him, preparing another Psystrike. Aizen grinned and green energy waves and balls materialized around him. "Time to die!" he cried at the top of his voice as he unleashed the vicious volley of energy Mewtwo's way. Mewtwo fired his Psystrike an instant later and the volley of energy waves and balls collided with each other in midair, stopping the other's momentum in an instant. Aizen pushed more energy into his attack but it did not budge Mewtwo's own attack. He tried to cast another power up spell, but he suddenly found it difficult to concentrate. _Damn it! That psychic's in my mind_ , he seethed, suddenly realizing that despite his enhanced defenses against mental attacks, he was far from immune to them.

He then focused all of his mental power towards dislodging Mewtwo's foothold in his mind. However, doing so proved to be far more difficult than he imagined, for it seemed as if Mewtwo's telepathy was also able to jam his own telepathy. As such, he continued to cast his power up spell, increasing his power even more, as well as his resistance to Mewtwo's telepathy, eventually gaining enough power to dislodge Mewtwo's foothold in his mind. Wasting no time, he then pushed more energy into his energy attack and it was beginning to have an effect, pushing back Mewtwo's Psystrike. However, Mewtwo was not going to sit back and let Aizen take control of the battle. He, too, pushed more energy into his attack, pushing back against the onrushing blob of energy as all of Aizen's energy waves coagulated into a single blob of energy in order to resist Mewtwo's psychic energy waves. The blob of energy was too much for Mewtwo, though, and it consumed the energy waves that the psychic Pokémon had generated and rocketed towards the Pokémon. Mewtwo was far from beaten, though.

He quickly powered a second Psystrike with which to protect himself against Aizen's magical wave. This one was different from the first, though. Instead of merely being a series of energy waves, it was one relatively large wave of energy similar to a Surf attack, but was much more confined and focused. He targeted the wave directly at the center of the magical blob that Aizen had generated. As soon as it collided with the energy blob, the blob's speed slowed as Mewtwo's new Psystrike made contact with it and began to push against it. The green blob soon came to a halt and began moving back towards Aizen, causing the Magic Lord's eyes to go wide with surprise and fear. How was this possible? Only a second ago, he had had Mewtwo on the ropes. He could not conceive of how the psychic cat had generated an attack to match and even exceed his own.

To counter Mewtwo's new Psystrike he added more energy to his blob and began to push back against Mewtwo's attack. However, all he managed to do was stop the blob of energy from being pushed back to him. It remained suspended between the two combatants. He tried to push more power into the attack, only to realize that Mewtwo was launching another telepathic attack on his mind. He was ready for such a ploy this time and he steeled his mind against the attack, not allowing Mewtwo to gain entry. However, Mewtwo had other plans, for just as he had launched the attack, he added more energy to his Psystrike, pushing against Aizen's attack, in addition to keeping pressure on Aizen's mind so that he would have to concentrate on two things at once. Once more, the massive ball of energy began heading Aizen's way. The Magic Lord tried to concentrate so he could add more energy to the attack, but his energy reserves were beginning to wane. He knew that he would have to end this battle quickly or Mewtwo would win simply by outlasting him. He studied Mewtwo and tried to come up with a strategy for defeating the Psychic-type Super Legendary Pokémon. A plan soon formed in his mind and he grinned to himself. He had him. There was no way Mewtwo would worm his way out of this.

He feigned continuing to struggle against Mewtwo's Psystrike while covertly watching for an opening where he could safely strike. He soon found what looked to be an opening as Mewtwo pushed more energy into his Psystrike and was about to teleport to Mewtwo and attack when he heard felt the appearance of arrival of another Pokémon. Judging by the look in Mewtwo's eyes, he also sensed the new arrival. His eyes flashed. This was his chance. Forget his previous plan. This was the golden opportunity!

He pushed more energy into his magical ball and fired it at Mewtwo. Mewtwo grimaced and was about to respond by pushing more energy into his Psystrike when a series of blue psychic waves of energy collided with the two attacks and caused them to explode in a tremendous display of light and sound. Both Aizen and Mewtwo reinforced their shields to ensure that they did not take any damage from the resulting blast. As for the explosion, it was felt throughout the entire cave. Stalactites fell from the ceiling of the cave and the ground shook. The ground cracked and rocks fell from the ceiling. Large waves from the lake lashed out at the shore, extending far beyond the normal banks before receding.

Both combatants looked up and saw a much smaller cat-like Pokémon floating above the battlefield. Mewtwo grimaced and gave a dark shrug as he recognized the new arrival as his mother. Mew looked to be less than pleased at the sight of Mewtwo fighting. "So _this_ is where you went and what you wanted to do," she pouted. "You choose to fight some guy over having fun with your father and me."

"We can continue this later, Mother," Mewtwo called over to Mew. "I have to finish this first."

Mew gave a growl as Mewtwo formed two psychic blades of energy from his wrists. Aizen, however, merely grinned. "Mother?" he said, gazing sadistically, and even a little lecherously at Mew. He then gave a foreboding chuckle. Mew, however, would not hear any of it from Mewtwo.

"Don't talk back to me like that, Mewtwo," she yelled. "Why is it that you always have to spend your time in dark places and picking fights with anyone who crosses eyes with you? Can't you just live a nice, relaxing life like your father and me?"

"I'm a little busy right now!" Mewtwo cried as he dodged a blast of magical energy that Aizen had cast, hoping to take advantage of the situation. Still, Mewtwo was focusing as much of his attention on his mother as he was on his opponent. Aizen's eyes flashed. This was his chance, his one true chance to kill Mewtwo once and for all. He quickly unleashed a bolt of magical lightning on the distracted psychic Pokémon. Less than a second from being fired, the lightning struck Mewtwo and arced across his body, followed quickly by the green ball of energy. The ball of energy hit Mewtwo engulfing the psychic Pokémon in an orb of emerald green energy. Aizen cackled maniacally as he watched the explosion, feeling Mewtwo's life energy fade and eventually vanish entirely.

After a several seconds, the green orb of energy vanished and no trace of Mewtwo could be found. Aizen used his magic to scan for Mewtwo once more, just to make sure that the Psychic-type Pokémon was not hiding his presence, but could neither sense, nor see, anything. He also could not hear anything that resembled movement or the pop of a teleportation. He began to allow himself to hope that he had finally killed Mewtwo. Still, he would take precautions. He continued to focus his magical senses around the entire area in order to make absolutely sure that Mewtwo was dead. Eventually, he could not see, hear, or sense anything other than himself in the entire area. There were also no residual psychic signatures that would indicate an emergency teleportation, either. Finally, Mewtwo was dead.

Mew, who had been watching the fight, but had stayed back for fear of getting in her son's way, gasped as Aizen's magical ball destroyed Mewtwo. "No!" she cried. "Mewtwo!"

"Give it up, kitty," Aizen gloated as he floated up to Mew. "He's dead. And soon, you will be, too." He then drew his sword and went to attack Mew, lowering his guard, figuring that Mew was no threat to him at all. Just as he was about to attack, though, a blue blade of psychic energy pieced him through the heart from behind. His eyes went wide with pain as he reflexively opened his mouth and coughed. No blood emerged, but given the heat that he felt from the psychic energy blade, he was not surprised since the blade had cauterized the wound. He struggled to turn his head and look behind him. There he saw the psychic cat, staring back at him, his psychic energy blade extending from his wrist. "How?" Aizen gasped, trying to breathe. "You're…dead! I…killed…you."

"It was a telepathic illusion," Mewtwo answered with a grin. "Your only goal was to kill me, so I decided to give you what you wanted. I let you think you had killed me, shielding myself from your presence until the time was right."

Aizen gritted his teeth as he slumped over as Mewtwo raised his sword, cleaving the upper part of his body in half. After that, he retracted the blade and began to relax, figuring that Aizen was finally beaten. Mewtwo then turned to face Mew, who did not know whether to be relieved or angry. "What were you doing fighting him? He was dangerous. You didn't have to pick this fight!" she cried.

"I didn't have a choice," Mewtwo countered. "He had attacked my friend and I was not about to do nothing.

"Oooh, you," Mew seethed as she went over to hug Mewtwo. He returned his mother's embrace and smiled kindly at her. After a few moments he disengaged himself from her, still smiling.

"I'm sorry I got you so…" but he would never finish his statement, for a glowing golden blade shot through his chest, causing his eyes to go wide in pain and shock.

Mew's eyes also went wide with shock upon seeing the sword jut out from her son's chest. She rushed over to Mewtwo and tried to heal him and use her telekinesis to push the blade out, but it would not budge, despite her putting a great deal of her power into it. "No, come on baby. You've gotta stay with me. Don't die," she cried, tears forming in her eyes.

"You're not the only one that can perform illusions," Aizen cackled at Mewtwo from behind, ignoring the crying Mew. "I can too. And I'm a lot better than you." He then twisted the blade, inflicting more damage to the Pokémon.

"How?" Mewtwo gasped, coughing, drops of blood shooting from his mouth. "When?"

"When? I created my illusion when you were arguing with your mother! I magically hid myself behind the illusion while you were dealing with my magical attack. I didn't know whether or not your mother would be able to see through the illusion and warn you in time to avoid the attack. It was a gamble, I will admit, but I have to say, it paid off. I will also readily admit that I could not have beaten you without her help."

As he said that, he fired a single blast of energy that vaporized Mewtwo's chest. He then brought his blade up and cleaved Mewtwo's neck and head nearly bloodlessly as his blade glowed a deep gold. Just before he would have cut cleanly through them, he brought the head close to him and, going over to the shocked and sobbing Mew said, "You thought you were so powerful. You thought you could get away with it. Now, you're nothing more than a dead and useless piece of trash. And to make matters worse, now, I'll just go and have some fun with your mom before I kill…" but he never finished his statement, for a wave of blue psychic energy washed over him from behind and vaporized him before he ever perceived that he was under attack. He never knew what hit him. A few feet behind him, Mewtwo floated as he extended his hands forward, breathing heavily. Nothing but smoke and dust remained of Aizen, which was dispersed by the air currents inside the cave. The image of the nearly bisected remains of Mewtwo promptly vanished as the illusion ended.

Mewtwo then lowered his hands, but did not lower his guard yet. Aizen had made the mistake of lowering his guard after thinking that he had killed him and had gone on to gloat; he would not make the very mistake that he had had his telepathic illusion feign making. Not only that, but the Magic Lord had shown himself to be able to cast illusions that while Mewtwo could see through, he did not want to take any chances since he was using no more than half of his power against the Magic Lord. His eyes continued to glow as he scanned his surroundings, making absolutely certain that Aizen was dead.

Mew was shocked out of her crying as she witnessed Aizen get vaporized by the Psystrike. Looking on, she saw the dust cloud that had once been Aizen fade and in its place was the seemingly pristine form of Mewtwo. "Mewtwo?" she uttered distantly, hoping against hope that this was not an illusion.

"Yes Mother," Mewtwo nodded. "It's me."

Mew then flew over to him and hugged him more fiercely than she ever had in her entire life. Seeing that she was too small to wrap her arms around her son in her true form, she transformed into a female version of Mewtwo and hugged him fiercely. Mewtwo returned the hug as Mew cried, exclaiming, "I was so worried. Why couldn't you just have stayed with us and partied? We could have come back here at the time of our choosing and fought him together! Why didn't you fight him at full power? He would have been no match for you!"

Mewtwo did not know what his mother was saying at first, but soon, something dawned on him as she hugged him even more fiercely. "You knew that Aizen was after me?" he asked, ignoring her other complaints.

A shocked look crossed Mew's face before she looked down contritely and nodded. "Yes, we knew," she admitted. "We didn't know his name, but we knew that a being that the Federation had referred to as a Magic Lord was searching for you. That's why I wanted to get you out of Cerulean Cave and take you to the other side of the world, especially when Team Rocket had heard the rumors of a powerful Pokémon inhabiting the cave."

"But you don't have to worry anymore, Mother. Aizen's dead and everything seems to be okay."

He looked back and saw that Aizen's Pokémon had not yet regained consciousness, but the dark power that had been emanating from them seemed to be gone. He suspected that they were no longer under his control. He then heard Mew tell him, "Call me Mom."

Mewtwo smiled and was about to make a remark about how he would always call her "Mother" when he sensed something out of the corner of his mind. As he extended his senses, he felt the same presence that he had felt before when the battle had begun. This time, though, the feeling was far more pronounced. He could feel the person's power, and evil, and save for his evil, he was still a mystery. There was something about his power that was incredible and far more dangerous than Aizen. And yet, there was something else about him that made it seem as if this figure did not have the same destructive potential as Aizen, who could cause significant damage to a planet if he so desired. He also felt as if this person had a specific weakness that, if exploited, would make him or her a far lesser threat than normal. The mysterious person soon vanished from Mewtwo's senses and he relaxed a little bit, still keeping his senses open.

As soon as the mysterious figure vanished, Mewtwo focused back on Mew, his expression returning to normal. "What is it?" Mew asked.

"Nothing now," Mewtwo answered. "I just sensed the presence of someone who had been present during my battle against Aizen. His or her presence was the reason I held back so much against him."

"Do you have any idea who it was?" Mew asked.

Mewtwo shook is head. "No. But I whoever it was was powerful. Maybe not on our level, but powerful enough to be a threat if I did not take him or her seriously."

Mew gave a mock scowl. "Well that settles it," she began cheerfully. "The danger is past. Now we can go back to Dad and spend the rest of our vacation in peace!"

"No, not yet," Mewtwo corrected.

"What do you mean?" Mew asked, almost pouting.

"My friend is still in danger. I must go back to him and help him accomplish his goal, as well as destroy Team Rocket once and for all. This time, I won't stop until Team Rocket is destroyed. Then, and only then, can we party once more."

Mew gave a shrug as she replied, "Fine, sourpuss. Go and help your friend, but you'd better come back and party with us once this chore is done."

"I will," Mewtwo assured her as he teleported back to Pokémon Village. With Mewtwo having departed, Mew promptly departed the scene as well, returning to New Orleans to party with her husband.

Not far away from the site of the battle, Ganondorf had watched the battle between Aizen and Mewtwo with a great deal of interest. This was his first opportunity to see one of the high end Chosen Heroes fight against an enemy that could actually challenge him. He had been surprised at how close the battle actually seemed to be in the end and that it had been the presence of Mew that had allowed Mewtwo the final victory, for it was Aizen's sadism and hatred for Mewtwo and anyone related to him that caused him to lower his guard once Mewtwo was defeated and go for Mewtwo's mother. However, from what he had seen, he had been a little disappointed. He had expected Mewtwo to be noticeably stronger than he had demonstrated, especially given the fact that the Psychic-type Pokémon had managed to defeat Dark Arceus, and later helped defeat two Arceus Trophies during the Galactic Federation Civil War, along with two adolescent Magic Lords. And while from what he had gathered, Aizen's boast of being the strongest of his kind was not an exaggeration, he still felt as if the difference between the Magic Lord and his two children should not have been nearly as great as it seemed given Mewtwo's performance against both. This caused him to wonder if Mewtwo may have held back against Aizen. If that was the case, then chances were that Mewtwo had managed to detect him. As soon as the cats had vanished, he, too, disappeared from the scene. He had to make preparations for a potential battle as soon as possible.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Back in what was now considered by Ash to be the town square of Indigo Village, Ash and his team continued to battle against Professor Oak, Tracey, Lance, and Cynthia, along with all of their Pokémon while Mewtwo took care of Aizen and his Legendary Pokémon. Ash's team formed up around him in a circle, making certain to shield him from harm, knowing that his friends and mother viewed him as their primary target. Electricity crackled around Pikachu's cheeks as he prepared to launch another Thunderbolt towards whichever Pokémon came at them next. So far, all of Ash's Pokémon were still able to fight, while several Pokémon of Ash's friends had fallen, most notably Cynthia's Garchomp and Spiritomb, along Lance's Dragonite and Aerodactyl, but they were still badly outnumbered, with Ash's Pokémon beginning to be fatigued by having to fight so hard against so many Pokémon while still holding back, not wanting to kill their friends while the enemy Pokémon had no such compunctions.

Professor Oak and the Pokémon that he commanded began the charge with him crying, "Everyone, pick a Pokémon you have an advantage against and use your strongest attack against it! Go now!"

"Everyone, cover each other," Ash called to his Pokémon in counterpoint. "Protect each other and take down any targets of opportunity!"

The attack began when Infernape used Flame Wheel to barrel straight towards Greninja. Mega Charizard Y quickly intercepted the Fire/Fighting-type ape-like Pokémon and used Air Slash to knock him off course, dispersing the Flame Wheel while he was at it, and knock out Infernape with one hit, the attack sending the ape-like Pokémon sailing through the air. Blastoise took that opportunity to attack Charizard with a Hydro Pump, which scored a direct hit on the dragon, inflicting significant damage on Charizard. Charizard was pushed back by the force of the water, his Fire type causing him to suffer twice the normal damage to the attack. However, even with Blastoise's power behind the attack, one hit was insufficient to defeat Charizard due to Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability.

Seeing that there were no Water-type Pokémon on his team at the moment, and realizing that Professor Oak, Tracey, and Cynthia all had at least one Water-type Pokémon on their team. With him not having any Grass or Ice-type Pokémon, his next strategy was simple, just take advantage of Drought until it wore off.

The intense sunlight shown down upon the town square almost blinding some of the combatants, forcing all of the Trainers arrayed against Ash to cover their eyes, as if to look into the light would be deadly for them. Tracey and Professor Oak, covering their eyes, cried to their Pokémon, "Take out that Charizard now! Don't let it get any attacks off!" But it was too late, for the very next thing Charizard did was target the strongest of Grass and Ice-types on the enemy team. He unleashed a massive Flamethrower upon Mamoswine, the large Ice/Ground-type Pokémon, taking it out with one Drought powered stream. His next target was Torterra and before the large Grass/Ground-type turtle could launch an attack of its own, he took it down with another powered up Flamethrower. The Pokémon were no match for a Mega Evolution.

Professor Oak quickly realized what Ash's plan was as the rest of his team charged towards the other Pokémon. Ash still held back, quietly examining the battles that were unfolding before him. He only hoped that his friends were doing their best to fight the spell and that it would limit their combat effectiveness. Meanwhile, Oak mirrored Ash's strategy and examined the battle. He saw Charizard take down Ash's Serperior and, knowing that if their Grass and Ice-type Pokémon were beaten, that Ash's team would have quite the edge, he quickly commanded, "Venusaur, use Sleep Powder on Charizard. Glaceon, use Ice Beam on Charizard, too!"

Both Pokémon complied and a cloud of Sleep Powder was released from the plant on Venusaur's back. Charizard saw this, though, and countered with a Flamethrower of his own. The stream of fire incinerated the cloud of powder, igniting it in midair and reducing it to ash. The Flamethrower continued on its way to Venusaur and took down the Grass/Poison-type with a single hit. Without any direction, Charizard then targeted Glaceon and took out the evolution of Eevee with one more Flamethrower.

Meanwhile, the enemy Fire-type Pokémon tried to do their best to enjoy the sunlight, realizing that if Charizard could take advantage of it, they could too. However, carrying out such a plan was easier said than done, for Krookodile and Tyranitar stepped forward and were eager to show their power by stomping on the ground, producing an Earthquake attack. Krookodile was hesitant to use Earthquake since it was also super effective on Tyranitar, but Tyranitar nodded and gave a few grunts towards the bipedal crocodile-like Pokémon. Knowing that Tyranitar would survive the hit and still be able to fight, Krookodile went ahead with his part of the attack and stomped on the ground along with Tyranitar. The ground trembled, shook, and split apart beneath the Pokémon's feet. Charizard was already carrying away Pikachu and Scrafty as the ground shook. Ash was standing far enough away to not be affected, as were the other humans. However, for the Fire-type Pokémon, it was the end of the line for them. The two Earthquakes were more than sufficient to take down each and every one of them. Ash and Dawn's Typhlosions and Ash's Torkoal were down and out of the fight. In addition, Dawn's Pachirisu was also taken down, as was Cynthia's Eelektross and Lucario.

Soon, the enemy Pokémon began their counterattack. Totodile was the first to attack, firing off a Water Gun from his mouth directly at Krookodile. The Ground/Dark-type crocodile burrowed into the ground, allowing the stream of water to sail over his head. Pikachu quickly dealt with Totodile, felling him with a single Thunderbolt. For a split second, the mind control that was controlling Totodile was disrupted, but after the attack rendered Totodile unconscious, the spell quickly reasserted itself, not that it would really matter all that much since Totodile was out of the fight. Soon, the rest of the remaining Pokémon unleashed their attacks on Ash's forces. Pikachu quickly dealt with May's Blastoise with a single Thunderbolt, while Charizard surprised everyone save for Ash when he powered a Solar Beam and a large beam of light erupted from his mouth directly at Ash's Blastoise. Blastoise made no attempt to avoid the attack and simply stood there as Charizard scored a direct hit on him, taking him down with the single hit.

The others were taken aback by the fierce resistance Ash and his Pokémon put up. However, they still held the numerical advantage and Ash's Pokémon were beginning to be fatigued. Even if they were somehow defeated, there was no way that Ash's Pokémon would be able to defeat Team Rocket. And there was still Aizen there to support them too once he was finished dealing with Mewtwo.

Staraptor, Swellow, Talonflame, and Noctowl soon entered the battle, quadruple-teaming Charizard, with Staraptor and Swellow charging at the dragon as he lowered himself, allowing Pikachu and Greninja to jump off safely and continue to fight. They used Aerial Ace, flying straight towards Charizard. They each scored direct hits on his head and knocked him backwards. Noctowl got in on the action, too, launching a Confusion attack on Charizard. The purple waves of psychic energy forced Fire/Flying-type back even further. Talonflame got in on the action, attempting to use Flame Charge on Charizard but the dragon lashed out at his attackers with a Flamethrower attack, managing to tag Noctowl and knock him out of the sky with the hit and score an indirect hit on Talonflame. Since Talonflame was part Fire-type, he only sustained moderate damage from the Flamethrower. A second Flamethrower finished off the owl, while Pikachu used Thunderbolt to take down Staraptor and finish off Talonflame. Swellow, still able to fight, used Aerial Ace on Pikachu, despite his type disadvantage. The attack managed to hit Pikachu and sent him flying through the air. He landed a few meters away on his back and bounced along the ground, grunting with each hit. After he came to a halt, he struggled to rise, the hit taking a lot out of him. Swellow soon looped in the air in preparation for another Aerial Ace when a barrage of rocks struck the bird, knocking him from the sky, and causing him to faint. Pikachu turned his head to find Tyranitar nodding towards him as he casually brutalized Piplup, punching the small penguin with Superpower, and then flattening him with an Earthquake. He then picked up the penguin and tossed him like a Frisbee at Cynthia, who had broken through the line and was charging Ash. The flattened penguin struck her in the chest and knocked her to the ground, popping back into shape with the hit. Cynthia struggled to rise, kicking off the penguin as she attempted to rise and pursue Ash as he retreated.

Even with the string of victories, there were still many enemy Pokémon left to deal with, as the remaining Pokémon of Ash's friends, along with those that had not been with him when he was taken to his father's hut, were quick to remind him with another flurry of attacks. Kingler, a crab-like Pokémon, unleashed a Bubble Beam on Tyranitar. Tyranitar recoiled from the attack and was knocked backwards but was still able to battle. Blaziken rushed towards the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon in an attempt to finish him off with a single Sky Uppercut. Tyranitar stepped back, causing the Fire/Fighting-type Pokémon to hit nothing but air. Tyranitar retaliated with an Earthquake, causing the ground to shake violently. Blaziken was too close to the epicenter of the attack to remain standing. He fell to the ground and took a great deal of damage but still remained able to battle. Tyranitar changed that by jumping onto the chicken-like Pokémon, smashing him into the ground. He rose quickly and withdrew from the chicken, Blaziken's lack of movement and swirling eyes showing that he had fainted.

Other Pokémon also entered the fray, making life difficult for Ash and his other Pokémon. His Corphish, Bayleef, and Sceptile formed a trio and charged towards Krookodile. Having a type disadvantage against all three Pokémon, and knowing that Sceptile was one of Ash's three Pokémon that he knew of that were confirmed to have defeated a Legendary Pokémon, he figured that his best option was to retreat and hope that Pikachu and Charizard could deal with this. As the crocodile retreated, the trio was eager to pursue. They chased down Krookodile as he led them over to Pikachu, who had just finished felling Lance's Gyarados, and Charizard, who was finishing off Ash's Glalie. Pikachu and Charizard soon noticed the group that was Krookodile was luring to them and gave a sigh. While they were still able to fight, they were not thrilled with having to fight their own friends, some of who were more like family members to the Pokémon. Pikachu took down Corphish with a single Thunderbolt, the crustacean-like Pokémon momentarily coming back to his senses as the golden glow of the Light Ball powered Thunderbolt shown around his body. As soon as the glow died, though, the spell reasserted itself and Corphish was ensnared once again. As for Bayleef and Sceptile, they were quickly dispatched with a single stream of Flamethrower, which greatly surprised Charizard since while Bayleef had shown herself to be nothing special, Sceptile was like him in that he had taken down a Legendary Pokémon in battle. There was no way Sceptile should have fallen to a single Flamethrower. That gave the Pokémon hope that Ash's Pokémon, and possibly his friends, too, were still fighting the spell.

As for Ash, as the fighting continued, he observed the battlefield, giving tips and pointers to each of his Pokémon as they continued to fight. He called over to Greninja, who was busy having to deal with Delcatty, Lopunny, and Snorlax, "Greninja, use Hydro Pump on Delcatty, Lopunny, and Snorlax!"

Greninja turned to face Ash, nodding, and then focused back on the three Pokémon who were charging him, each of them powering their own close range attacks, a critical error on their part. As they approached, Greninja jumped back, focusing on Delcatty and unleashed a Hydro Pump, sending a jet of water right at the cat-like Pokémon. The attack sent Delcatty flying through the air, and out of the fight as she landed on her back and skidded to a halt. Greninja then spun around and used Night Slash against Lopunny, striking her in the head, dazing her, allowing her to be finished off by a second Night Slash. After those two Pokémon were taken down, all he had left to deal with was Snorlax. The large and lumbering Pokémon had since closed the distance and was powering an Ice Punch. The massive Pokémon then threw the Ice Punch at Greninja's head. The attack was slow and telegraphed, though, allowing the Fighting/Dark-type to avoid the attack with ease. Greninja retaliated with a series Night Slashes and took down Snorlax with the barrage.

Ash watched the various battles with keen interest, studying them carefully. He was greatly surprised at how well his Pokémon were doing in handling themselves against the Pokémon under Aizen's control. Many of them were far from pushovers and yet, many had fallen to single attacks. While the team that Ash currently had was pretty strong, with three of the strongest non-Legendary Pokémon he had ever seen battling; Sceptile, another Legendary beater, had fallen to a single Flamethrower. Yes it had been powered up by Drought, which had now run its course, and had been fired from a Mega Evolution, but still, it was a less than impressive display of endurance, especially when Charizard had taken a Hydro Pump to the chest from Blastoise Mega Evolving and bringing Drought into play. In addition, he had taken an Aerial Ace from two powerful Flying-type Pokémon, along with a Confusion attack and he was still in very good fighting shape, easily holding his own against anything that was going against him. None of Ash's Pokémon that had been fighting against his current team had shown anything close to that level of endurance. In fact, all of the Pokémon controlled by Aizen had fallen to much less than he had expected, as shown by Snorlax falling to a Night Slash barrage, when he was known for his endurance and durability in battle. In addition, their attacks, when they had gotten them off, seemed to be off. They were not as powerful or as effective as they should have been given the experience of the Pokémon using them.

He began to wonder if Aizen's spell was weakening them, or if they were simply subconsciously fighting the spell and not fighting to the fullest of their potential. There was also something else that came to his attention. None of Mia's Pokémon were present at this battle. He was able to spot his own Venusaur hanging back, content to launch a woefully ineffective barrage of Razor Leaf at Charizard. The dragon simply flew over the leaves, not bothering to return fire, allowing them to sail beneath him and imbed themselves in the various structures that were strewn across the battlefield, as well as his own Garchomp, but nowhere did he see Mia's Garchomp or Venusaur, the latter of which was one of her strongest, if not her strongest, Pokémon, and one that was capable of Mega Evolution. He began to wonder what that may have meant since Aizen had been working for Team Rocket and may have been working with the figure that had captured Mia.

As the battle progressed, Ash's spellbound friends realized that the battle was getting out of hand. For whatever reason, their Pokémon were showing themselves to be significantly weaker than Ash's current team, for Ash's Pokémon were evening up the numbers fairy quickly; and if they were able to make this a five-on-five battle, there was no way that they would win. Taking matters into his own hands, Ash's Garchomp leapt into high into the air to scout the area in order to try to find the young teen. He quickly spotted Ash standing back, gazing out over the battlefield as he reached the apex of his jump. After falling back to the ground, he jumped again, this time over the fray, directly targeting Ash Ketchum. As he reached the apex of his jump, he powered up a Dragon Claw as he began to descend towards Ash. Before he could begin his descent, though, a blizzard appeared from above and unleashed a barrage of snowflakes and freezing winds upon the Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon. The land shark was sent reeling backwards as he rocketed through the air, landing not too far away in a heap. Ash and the others looked up and saw Mewtwo floating above the battlefield. Ash's heart was lifted at the sight of the Psychic-type Pokémon, hoping and praying that Mewtwo's return to the battle meant that Aizen was dead and that his spell was now broken.

His hopes for the spell being broken were dashed as Lance and Cynthia stared up into the sky and cried out towards the cat-like Pokémon, "What has happened to Master Aizen?"

"He's dead," Mewtwo answered succinctly. "You all are now free from his spell," he proclaimed to all of the participants that were on the battlefield arrayed against Ash and his small team. To accentuate his point, Aizen's six Legendary Pokémon that he had defeated appeared around him. He then set them down among them for them to examine.

Mewtwo's statement at first brought a maniacal cackle from all of the remaining humans and Pokémon that were fighting Ash and his Pokémon, who had retreated to form up around him, knowing that Mewtwo was powerful enough to deal with any and all of their opponents. Soon, though, their laughs turned to growls and even tears as he set the Legendary Pokémon before them. They glared at the psychic Pokémon, rage burning in their eyes. The hatred Ash saw took him and his Pokémon, even the usually serious and unflappable Charizard and Tyranitar, aback.

"Then we shall avenge Aizen!" Professor Oak cried for the rest of the group. "Attack!" all of the humans cried. "Kill them all!"

Ash and his Pokémon steeled themselves for the onslaught, but they were not the targets. The only target for their enemies was Mewtwo. They launched barrage after barrage of ranged attacks on the Pokémon, only for him to erect a shield over himself and casually sigh as the attacks bounced off the shield, causing it to flare for an instant with each hit. Soon, though, the attacks became so furious and their power so great that when they collided with the shield, they exploded and produced a blast cloud that obscured the Pokémon. After a couple of minutes of shooting into the cloud nonstop, they stopped to rest and examine the damage. After a few moments, the cloud began to clear and they saw no signs of Mewtwo. Each of the enemy Pokémon and humans grinned, thinking that their attacks had destroyed Mewtwo, viewing that even if he had somehow managed to defeat Aizen, he would not emerge from such a battle unscathed. "Well that was a little anticlimactic," Professor Oak noted. "I would have expected such a Pokémon to last a bit longer, or at least for there to have been more of it left. Oh well," he shrugged. "Time to finish off Ash and his friends."

The group then focused their attention back towards Ash. As soon as they focused on him, though, they froze, as if they were waiting for something. After a few moments of study, Ash noticed that each and every one of them was actually trying to move, issue a command, or even attack but were being prevented from doing so. Looking up, he saw Mewtwo hovering above his friends, and their Pokémon. He heard his friends begin to curse and snarl as they realized that Mewtwo was not only still alive, but had them completely at his mercy.

"Ash, your Pikachu is equipped with a Light Ball, is he not?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah," he answered, wondering what Mewtwo was getting at.

"Have him use Thunderbolt on all of the Pokémon and the humans present, even those Pokémon that are immune to electric attacks. The light generated from the Light Ball disrupts Aizen's spell. Now that he's dead, a sustained attack, even at a weak charge, should be able to not only disrupt the spell, but also neutralize it."

Ash was skeptical at first about the potential for success. However, with Aizen being dead, and Pikachu not having used Thunderbolt on any Pokémon and having said Pokémon return for more, or show any signs of still being under the spell, in the last few minutes, he figured that it was worth a shot. Turning to Pikachu, he said, "Okay Pikachu. Use Thunderbolt on everyone. Make it a weak charge, though, so we don't risk injuring anyone further."

Pikachu nodded and began to power up a Thunderbolt, being careful to make it weak enough so that it would not actually injure any of his targets. Once he had properly gauged the amount of energy necessary, he let loose the Thunderbolt on the first series of subjects. He targeted the Legendary Pokémon first, since they were closest to him at the time. The lightning bolts that erupted from Pikachu's cheeks reached out and touched the other Pokémon, causing electricity to arc over their bodies. As it did so, Ash and Pikachu both began to notice a golden glow surrounding the Pokémon. After a minute or so, Pikachu cut off the power to his attack and Ash examined the results. The golden glow took a few moments to die down, but once it did, Ash noticed the Pokémon each look around, as if wondering where they were and what was going on. Suddenly, their eyes seemed to flash with realization as to what they had just been doing. They took a step back from Ash and then knelt down onto the ground in submission. Ash and Pikachu waited and hoped that the spell would not reassert itself. After several minutes of waiting, they were satisfied that the spell had been completely neutralized and that the Pokémon had been freed.

Seeing his success with the initial group of Pokémon, Mewtwo pulled together the rest of the Pokémon along with the humans and once they were all in contact with each other, Ash nodded towards Pikachu and the electric mouse unleashed another Thunderbolt. The electrical attack promptly struck the first person in the group, who happened to be Cynthia, and arced throughout the entire group, eventually covering everyone with arcing sparks of electricity, along with a golden glow as the light from the Light Ball was going to work, disrupting and neutralizing the spell that Aizen had cast on the party. As with the first group, Pikachu kept up the steady stream of electricity, this time for a couple of minutes due to the fact that there were so many that had to be freed from the spell. After a couple of minutes had gone by, Pikachu cut off the stream and watched as the golden glow continued to shine around the humans and Pokémon, the Legendary Pokémon curiously looking on. Eventually, the glow dissipated and Ash looked on as Lance, Cynthia, Professor Oak, Tracey, and the Pokémon looked around, first at each other and then at their surroundings. After a few moments, their eyes went wide with shock and sadness, Professor Oak barely able to stand.

Cynthia turned and noticed Ash standing a ways away and asked, "Ash, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ash assured her. "We were holding our own."

"More than that," came a comment from above.

The others looked above and found Mewtwo hovering above the battlefield. Cynthia recognized Mewtwo from the battle in the Sinjoh Ruins at the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War and gave a smile. Professor Oak wondered if he recognized the Pokémon but did not dwell on it too much. The others, however, were not familiar with Mewtwo, though. "You all don't have to worry about Ash and his friends. They were doing quite well against you given the circumstances." He said it in such a way, though, that it did not put them at ease. To them, some wondered if their skills as Trainers were being questioned.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," Professor Oak concluded. "All that matters is that we're back to normal and that Ash and his Pokémon aren't hurt."

Lance and Cynthia proceeded to recall all of their Pokémon, both those able to and unable to battle. For those that were unable to battle, they used Revives and Max Revives on them to bring them back into fighting shape. Not too far away, Mewtwo landed and stayed off to the side, allowing Ash to catch up with Lance, Cynthia, Tracey, and Professor Oak. He took this time to scan the surroundings, just to be on the safe side. He did not want to be caught off guard in case the unknown figure decided to attack. Sensing no one else, he decided to focus his attention back on Ash and the others to make sure that they were okay. The scene of Ash and his friends being as close as they were warmed his heart. Inwardly, he always suspected that he and Ash were more alike than either of them knew. While Ash was relatively open and outgoing, with Mewtwo being anything but, both were also fierce and loyal friends once friendship was achieved. They both also had a strong sense of what was right and wrong. While he may have been harsher in his handling of his friends being controlled by an outside force and in the neutralizing of said force, he could not fault Ash's handling of the situation. None of his Pokémon were seriously hurt, with Charizard only suffering a couple of bruises, and the mind-controlled Pokémon not suffering any permanent injuries either.

Ash and his friends eventually finished catching up and went to check on their Pokémon, each of which was tired from all of the fighting. He saw Professor Oak already administering aid to the fallen Pokémon, as well as those who were exhausted from all the fighting. Ash went over to help relieve some of the burden as well, being careful to not use too much of his supplies, for he knew that he would need them later to help heal his Pokémon during the upcoming battles while he stormed the Team Rocket controlled Pokémon League. Fortunately, Professor Oak was more than willing to replenish what he used to heal the rest of his Pokémon.

Once all of the Pokémon had been fully healed, Professor Oak went over to Ash and asked him, "Ash, we had heard that you were killed. What happened? How did you survive the destruction of Team Rocket's Headquarters?"

"That's something I've been wondering too," Tracey echoed. "I mean you were hit by Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit's effects. Even if you somehow survived the fall, which you did, you should be without a mind, spirit, and emotion."

"Charizard managed to catch me and fly me free," he answered to the two of them. "What happened afterward, however, is personal."

"What do you mean, personal?" Professor Oak asked asked. Ash's statement also piqued the curiosity of the others present as they had been quietly discussing what to do next.

"I mean it has to do with family," Ash answered in a quiet, but serious tone, looking up at everyone else.

The others got the idea pretty quickly and let the issue lie. Ash then proceeded to examine his Pokémon friends and minister to their needs. He focused on Charizard, who had since returned to normal, and Tyranitar first, since they had done the bulk of the fighting and had engaged Meloetta and Genesect before Mewtwo's arrival. After he had given Charizard and Tyranitar a Max Potion and Max Elixir, he saw to the needs of the rest of his team, caring for each and every one of them. He also went to examine the other Pokémon that had been fighting alongside Professor Oak. While he did so, Tyranitar gave an indignant grunt and stomped off to the side while Ash made certain that the rest of his Pokémon friends were okay. Tyranitar viewed it as badge of pride that he did not fall under any spell. He also had a newfound respect for Pikachu and the others that had fought alongside him, the massive Armor Pokémon already having gained respect for Charizard. He did not have the same feelings for the rest of Ash's team, though, figuring that they should have fought harder against Aizen's spell. Charizard did not have the same issue and went and mingled with the rest of Ash's Pokémon.

Once he was sure that his team was okay, he went over to Professor Oak and Tracey and asked what had happened. Tracey then told Ash how his sister, mother, and friends were all put on trial by the Pokémon League and had been found guilty of murder, sedition, and an assortment of other charges. The League had remanded Mia into the custody of Team Rocket, something that caused Ash's heart to sink, for he knew that she would not last long in Team Rocket's 'care' if she did not have her willpower or her memory, as Tracey had informed Ash. This made things even worse in his mind. He then told Ash of how Team Rocket had then given the Pokémon League a machine that they had coveted, and was the reason why the League had worked with Team Rocket to take down Mia and Ash. Tracey told them that the machine was a trap and that it exploded, killing all members of the World Pokémon League Committee save for Giovanni, which meant that now, Giovanni was in command of the World Pokémon League.

"What are the Gym Leaders doing about this?" he asked.

"They're formulating their own plan," Lance answered, coming over to Ash, having heard the question. "However, it may be some time before they are ready to launch their counterattack. With Team Rocket controlling the Pokémon League and the Pokémon League controlling the government or even being the government, they have to be careful. As such, for the moment, we're all that stands in Team Rocket's way."

"What about my mom?" was Ash's next question.

"She and the others were sent to the dungeons beneath Pokémon League Headquarters," Tracey answered.

"They weren't there when Aizen came down to place us under his spell, and that was after they had been sentenced, for he told us the verdict when he arrived," Cynthia chimed in, having overheard the conversation.

"Where would Team Rocket have taken them?" Ash asked the former Champions, praying that they had not been executed.

"I don't know," Lance answered. "But we may be able to find out. There are computer servers here in Pokémon Village close to the Pokémon Center. We may be able to find the information we need there."

"Then we should go there immediately," Ash exclaimed. His Pokémon agreed, as did Tyranitar. Seeing no better options at the moment and fearing for the safety of Delia, May, Dawn, and Mia, the others agreed with Ash.

"Follow me," Cynthia directed as she took the lead, mounting her Garchomp.

Ash then gathered the rest of his Pokémon, as well as those of his friends, and followed Cynthia. He was followed by Lance, then Tracey, and finally Professor Oak. All of their Pokémon also followed them, with several hanging back to make sure that Team Rocket did not launch a surprise attack from behind.

Ash and his friends followed Lance and Cynthia as they led them to a small building off in the distance seemingly made of wood, having an average sized door. It seemed nondescript, for it was merely the size of a log cabin, but that merely disguised its true importance. During the relatively short trip, Lance had explained that the Pokémon League kept all of its important information and the servers away from League Headquarters since that would be the first place an enemy would look to find information. "The log cabin, itself, is also a disguise," the Johto Champion added. "There are several sublevels below the cabin, much like there is at the Celadon City Game Corner."

Ash was not familiar with the Celadon City Game Corner so he asked, "Why would the Celadon City Game Corner have several sublevels?"

"Because it was a front for Team Rocket. The basement of the Game Corner was actually Team Rocket's hideout until Mia raided it during her Kanto journey and smashed every Rocket inside the base, including Giovanni."

Ash's eyes went wide at the revelation. It appeared as if Mia was even more skilled and powerful a Trainer at an early age than even he had imagined from her résumé. That merely made her loss that much harder on him, for now he knew that he not only had to find his sister, but that he also had very large shoes to fill. That only made his resolve to find her and save her that much stronger.

As they were making their way over to the building, Mewtwo appeared next to Ash and the others, startling Professor Oak, Tracey, and Lance, but merely causing Ash and Cynthia to smile. Unlike the others, they had personal experience with the exceedingly powerful Psychic-type Pokémon. When he appeared, his eyes glowed for a second before they returned to normal and he faced the rest of the party. He then made his report.

"There are four Rocket Agents on the ground floor of that building," the Psychic-type Pokémon reported. "Other than that, the building is deserted. In addition, all of the computer servers on the sublevels appear to have been moved, for the agents on the first floor don't aren't really concerned about heading to the basement."

"Then we can teleport inside and surprise them from below," Lance concluded.

"What sort of Pokémon do the Rockets inside have?" Tracey asked.

"The normal Team Rocket Pokémon," Mewtwo answered. "Koffings, Weezings, as well as a Drowzee and a Kadabra."

"So, they should be no match for us," Ash concluded.

Mewtwo gave a dark grin and nodded. "We'll still need them alive in order for them to be able to tell us where the captives were taken but that shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Can you get us into the basement undetected?" Professor Oak asked.

Mewtwo nodded again. "Despite being Psychic-type Pokémon, the Pokémon working with these Rockets aren't exactly mental giants."

"Are they working with Team Rocket willingly?" Ash asked.

Mewtwo gave a shrug. "I didn't check. Do you want me to scan them again?"

Ash shook his head. "We can't afford to take foolish risks," he cautioned. "We may be stronger than them, but if we don't take the threat seriously, we could end up getting in over our heads if any surprises come our way."

Lance and Cynthia nodded in agreement. They would simply go in and deal with Team Rocket anyway. With the fate of his mother, sister, and friends at stake, Ash would use whatever methods were necessary to find out where they were and how to save them. One thing he would not do, though, is risk the mission failing because of overconfidence. Overconfidence had cost him too much in the past and the price for failure here was far too high for him to risk it. He would not dare underestimate Team Rocket now. Besides, his father had warned him about someone called Ganondorf and what might happen if he had discovered that his father had helped him. Something told him that he may, indeed, face off against this Ganondorf sooner than expected. Once the group was ready, Mewtwo teleported them into the base, using his abilities to shield them from any telepathic scans and prevent any internal sensors or cameras from spotting them.

Up on the ground floor of the small building, the few Rocket guards that were stationed inside the computer center sighed as they went about their work. Despite the excitement of the last few hours, with Ash and Mia's attack on Team Rocket Headquarters, the death of the World Pokémon League Committee, and Giovanni's takeover of the Pokémon League, they still did not have much work to do. They had simply been flown in to take control of the computer servers and keep an eye on security. So far, they had not detected anything close to them that was suspicious. The only activity had seemed to be the average Trainer coming to try to challenge the Elite Four only to be rebuffed due to all of the turmoil.

"Man, this is boring," one of the Rockets leaning against the wall complained.

"Yeah," a second echoed. "I thought that we were gonna see some action."

"Shut up and keep watch," a scientist at one of the computers bellowed. "Ever since Leaf escaped we've been told to stay on guard. Who knows who or what might show up now that we've lost our Mahogany Town base?"

The door that led to the stairwell suddenly burst open and Mewtwo appeared in the doorway, answering for the Rocket, "Then let me show you."

The Rockets did not recognize Mewtwo but they certainly recognized Lance, Cynthia, and an angry Ash.

"Oh *$&," one of the Rockets swore before Mewtwo put him in a psychic chokehold that rendered him unconscious.

As for the other Rockets, they fared just as well as the first one, Mewtwo using Psychic to freeze them and prevent them from being able to move. The scientists tried to assist the Rockets guarding them, but they, too, found themselves glued to their seats, completely frozen mid-movement. Professor Oak, Tracey, and Lance's eyes went wide at Mewtwo's display of power. Even more startling to the three was the fact that Mewtwo had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat in dealing with the Rockets. They had not even had the opportunity to deploy their Pokémon. Ash and Cynthia merely smiled knowingly. They had seen examples of Mewtwo's power before and this was not anywhere close to his maximum demonstrated power. However, Ash's smile quickly vanished as he focused on the Rockets, having heard what one of them had said earlier from behind the door.

"What do you mean Mia escaped?" Ash asked the Rockets and the scientists still frozen and unable to move.

"Who?" one of the scientists asked.

"Leaf," Cynthia clarified for Ash. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," the Rocket answered. "We just heard about the escape ten minutes ago or so."

Ash looked over at Mewtwo, who merely nodded his head, indicating that the Rocket was telling the truth.

"Next question: where is my mother, May, and Dawn?"

"Who?" the Rocket asked once again, his tone indicating that he honestly did not know whom Ash was talking about.

"You know whom he's talking about," Mewtwo blurted out psychically, causing the Rocket to gulp audibly and begin to sweat. "Where are the girls and woman that you captured?"

"I don't know?" the Rocket answered. This merely brought a wave of agony to him as Mewtwo stimulated the pain center of the brain, causing it to flare and send messages of pain throughout the Rocket, prompting the Rocket to scream.

"Try again," Mewtwo commanded in a low, cold voice as the other Rockets soon began feeling as if they had been set ablaze since the messages that were traveling through their brain told it that they were currently on fire, something that the flaring nerves did nothing to dissuade the Rocket from feeling.

"Okay, okay, okay!" another Rocket cried. "They're in Celadon City, in the Game Corner!"

"The Celadon City Game Corner?" Cynthia queried.

"Yes, yes!" the Rocket cried, praying that Mewtwo would release him from the grip of agony. Mercifully, Mewtwo did just that and the Rockets no longer felt as if they were being set ablaze.

"Why were they taken there?" Ash blurted.

"They are to be the wait staff and performers at the celebration."

"And once that's over?"

"They'll likely be sold into slavery," came the answer. The Rocket could not help but give a sadistic grin. "The two girls are really pretty and the woman's just as hot."

Ash looked over at Mewtwo, questioning as to whether or not the Rocket was telling the truth. Inwardly, he was actually hoping that the Rocket was lying and that they had different plans for his mother and friends. However, Mewtwo gave a solemn nod as the Rocket continued to grin, seemingly unaware of the fact that his life hung in the balance. Ash seethed at the sadistic grin of the Rockets but the others kept their cool. They knew that with Mewtwo on their side, there was no way Team Rocket would retain possession of May, Dawn, and Delia for long.

"What are the defenses at the Celadon City Game Corner?" Lance demanded.

"Just some normal Grunts and a few Agents," another Rocket answered. This one did not have the same perverse grin that the previous one had. "The celebration of our victory over the Pokémon League and Leaf is going on there, though they probably don't know about her escape yet."

Lance turned to Mewtwo for confirmation that the Rocket was telling the truth. The cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon gave a curt nod, indicating that the Rocket was telling the truth. Mewtwo then performed a deeper scan of the Rockets and their faces went blank while he rummaged through their minds in order to find any pertinent information to their current plans. He was almost disappointed when he discovered that these Rockets did not know many of the ins and outs of what was going on in the very organization that they were working for. All they knew was that Team Rocket was doing its best to rule the world and that they had already taken over the Pokémon League. They also knew that the girls were going to be used as servants at the celebration and then sold into slavery. As such, he ended his scan, causing them to lurch forward for a second before they caught themselves and their expressions returned to normal. Once the scan was cut off, the Rockets instantly vanished, claps of air filling the void where they had once stood and the group was alone.

Professor Oak looked over at Mewtwo and asked, "What did you do with them?"

"I teleported them into a prison. Each of them is now sharing a cell with a rather large sentient life-form that is angry and has been alone and unable to vent his frustrations for quite some time," Mewtwo answered with a grin.

"Isn't that a little cruel for just some scientists?" the professor asked.

"Who cares?" both Mewtwo and Ash answered coldly in unison. "They worked for Team Rocket, an organization that has murdered humans an Pokémon alike, as well as having had kidnapped children," the Psychic Pokémon added.

"We have what we need," Ash declared. "Now, let's get over to Celadon City's Game Corner and save my mom and friends."

"Wait," Cynthia countered, focusing on the computers.

"What do you mean?" the boy demanded.

"These computers have all of the information we could ever want on Team Rocket and their operation," the Sinnoh League Champion answered. "It would be foolish to leave it here and allow a security patrol to retake the complex and/or erase the data on the hard drives."

"Cynthia's right," Lance echoed. "This is one of our best opportunities to take down Team Rocket once and for all. We both have contacts in the Federation as well as the United Earth government. We should also contact Charles Goodshow. We need to show them this data if it proves valuable. This is the proof we need to let everyone know that Team Rocket took over the Pokémon League. Then, when United Earth and the Federation enter the fray, they'll know that it's Team Rocket they need to deal with, not everyone in the Pokémon World. You go to Celadon City and save your friends and family. Cynthia and I will stay here to make sure that we get the data."

"We'll stay here too," Professor Oak and Tracey volunteered. "You'll want to have additional security in case those security patrols _do_ come around to checking on the complex." Turning to Mewtwo, Professor Oak asked, "Did you glean how to operate the computers and if there was a signal that had to be sent out to Team Rocket's base before you teleported the operators away?"

Mewtwo nodded. "That was the first thing I did. And they do have a signal that indicates that all is well. I'm transmitting the data to you and Cynthia right now."

The Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes glowed as he transmitted the information to Professor Oak, Cynthia, Lance, and Tracey.

"Good," the professor stated approvingly as he received the data. "Then we should be able to keep Team Rocket from realizing that something has gone wrong for some time."

Once they had received all of the necessary information, they took their seats at the computer screens so that they could download the data from the hard drives. Their Pokémon quickly went over to the exits to cover them with Cynthia's Spiritomb using Psychic to keep its senses open in order sense any potential Rockets teleporting into the basement below. With all of the preparations being made, Ash, his Pokémon, and Mewtwo stood off at a distance away from the others.

"Good luck," Lance and Cynthia wished the boy before he departed.

Ash gave them a thumbs up before he, his Pokémon, and Mewtwo vanished from the scene. Once they vanished, the others quickly got to work downloading all of the data from the Team Rocket database.

Meanwhile, over at Pokémon League Headquarters, the Rocket Grunt that had witnessed Aizen's battle against Mewtwo was making his report back to Giovanni. "Say that again!" Giovanni blurted, after the Grunt had made his initial report.

"It's true sir. Aizen is dead. Reports indicate that he was fighting a cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon. I didn't catch its name but I did get a good look at the Pokémon. It was bipedal and loosely resembled a cat. It had a white body with a long purple tail with a thicker rounded tip at the end. The Pokémon also stood at two meters in height. To make matters worse, it also managed to take down the six Legendary Pokémon that Aizen took with him to battle Ash Ketchum. Not only that, but I think I discovered Aizen's secret method of mind controlling the former Johto and Sinnoh League Champions. He was not human. He looked like a Star Elf, but he had magical powers that made him much stronger. That was how he mind controlled Lance, Cynthia, and the others."

Giovanni grimaced. He did not care about Aizen's secret at the moment. He had always suspected that there was something different about the Rocket Officer, but he did not pry. Aizen had never done anything that went against Team Rocket and with the losses that Team Rocket had sustained, he was not too picky about whom to accept help from. As long as he or she did not betray Team Rocket, there was no problem. Getting back to the discussion at hand, he asked, "Any word on the outcome of the battle between Aizen's mind slaves and Ash?"

"No," the Rocket answered, shaking his head. "But if Aizen was killed, then it would be prudent to assume that this new Pokémon may have also found a way to undo the brainwashing that was done to Lance and the others."

"Great," Giovanni seethed. "We can't deal with this now! We are so close to our goals. We can't let Ash and the others stop us."

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Get back on security detail. Alert the other Rockets as to what has happened."

"Understood sir," the Rocket answered, bowing.

"Dismissed!"

The Rocket bowed once more and then departed. As soon as the door shut, Giovanni sat back in his chair and opened the intercom to the base. "Gideon, get your team ready. I need you all ready to go as soon as possible. Tell me when you're all assembled. Archer, Ariana, Petrel, Proton, come to my office now. I need to see you."

Affirmatives rang through the radio as the line cut off. The Rocket Boss continued to seethe. He more than anyone knew the danger that was faced with Ash managing to fight through his mind controlled friends. Persian looked up at him with concern. It had never seen its master so flustered before, not even when Mia had been destroying Team Rocket during her travels through Kanto. He was so distracted that neither he, nor Persian, noticed a figure appear in the room.

"You'll never defeat Ash and the others with the forces you currently possess. All the Legendaries you possess will not be sufficient to deal with Mewtwo."

The new voice caught Giovanni off guard and he shot up from his seat before he could even grab the gun from his desk. "Who are you?"

The figure gave a chuckle and emerged from the shadows. The figure had green skin and orange hair. He was dressed in ornate black armor. He grinned at Giovanni as the Rocket Boss, realizing that he was not armed, fumbled for the drawer that carried his defensive firearm. "Don't bother going for that gun. Mia tried it on me, and she had a more powerful one, and it didn't work. As for who I am, I'm Ganondorf," the Gerudo King answered nonchalantly.

Giovanni tried to open the desk but to no avail. "What do you want?"

"I have come here to help you."

"I don't need your help," Giovanni proclaimed defiantly.

"Yes you do," Ganondorf answered. A purple glow emanated from his hand and a look of shock crossed Giovanni's face. "Now do you remember?"

Giovanni could only nod in shock and awe. His worst nightmare was coming true. He suddenly remembered Mewtwo and the power of the Psychic-type Pokémon that he had believed was a clone, but had simply been a baby Mew that had been genetically tampered with. However, even Giovanni did not know the full story about Mewtwo, not like Ganondorf. The two defeats that Giovanni had suffered at Mewtwo's hands, or paws, came to the front of his mind. "And what can _you_ do to help me?" Giovanni asked skeptically.

Ganondorf's lips split into a grin. "First of all, I am a powerful magician, myself. My powers can match Mewtwo's as long as I have some support. I think that the Lake Guardians would suffice."

"And why would I do that?" Giovanni roared.

"Because you _really_ want Mewtwo dead," Ganondorf answered. "You wanted him dead yesterday. Besides, you'll get something else for your troubles, too."

"And what will I get?" Giovanni asked skeptically.

Ganondorf looked behind him and inclined his head. The Rocket Boss then heard, and felt, the heavy footfalls of a warrior emerging from the shadows behind Ganondorf. The warrior was wearing an immense suit of silver armor. He, or she, was also carrying a massive axe and also seemed to be armed with wrist cannons as well. The eyes of the helmet appeared to be green. "You'll get her," Ganondorf answered, grinning.

Giovanni stared in amazement at the sight of the massive warrior. Hope reentered his heart. He and his forces were not out of this yet.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

Meanwhile, over in the Celadon City Game Corner, Team Rocket was taking their time celebrating their victory over the Pokémon League, as well as Ash and Leaf, believing the former to be dead and the latter to be imprisoned and likely dead by now. They had partied all throughout the night and into the morning, indulging in their basest of desires. There were slot machines active and Rockets were gambling away their paychecks in the hopes of hitting it big on the casino tables. Other areas of the casino now held poker tables and craps tables, with more Rockets gambling away their paychecks and life savings in the hopes of winning big and getting a huge payday.

In another part of the casino, Team Rocket Grunts and Agents were enjoying performances by bands that they had hired, as well as performances by Rockets that were musically inclined. A large number of singers, dancers, and other performers performed on stage to the delight of the audience. The male Rockets hooted and gave catcalls to the attractive female performers, of which there were many. The performers did not seem to mind the attention they were receiving from the Rocket males, and if they did, they did not show it. Several female Rocket Grunts and Agents issued scowls of disapproval towards their male comrades, though they were quick to issue the same calls and hoots to the attractive male performers, who merely winked and smiled at the female Rockets.

However, the main attraction did not seem to be the performers at all. Instead it was the serving girls that went all around the casino seeing to the wishes of the patrons, all of who belonged to Team Rocket and/or the Pokémon League, which was now under the control of Team Rocket. As such, the casino was not filled to capacity, but there were enough people present to force the servers to work quickly, since there were only two serving girls consisting of none other than May and Dawn. May was dressed in a red glittering mini dress that was cut high above the knee, and too low on the chest for her comfort. She scowled as the Rockets leered and made passes at her. As for Dawn, some of the Rockets had wanted her to wear some sort of dress similar to the one that May was wearing, but after looking over her casual attire, decided that they were fine with what they saw, leering at the girls as they went about their tasks despite the two being underage.

As the unwilling servants went about their tasks, often consisting of serving candy and drinks, most of them alcoholic, the Rockets would hoot and give them catcalls. They merely scowled as they performed their more mundane tasks, but absolutely refused to perform any of the more adult favors for the Rockets that some of the more perverse ones wanted. That did little to dissuade the Rockets from leering at them and giving more catcalls as they walked by, though. They had attempted to escape earlier but Team Rocket had stationed four guards at each of the exits and with no Pokémon to assist them, the chances of escape were looking fainter and fainter as time went on. Still, they knew that they had to escape before it was too late, for they had heard several of the Rockets commenting on how much they would go for on the market.

During one round, as Dawn and May were preparing to take a break, knowing that they were being watched, a couple of Rocket Grunts quickly grabbed the two of them and pulled the girls to them, grinning as they drew the girls into their arms. The Rockets looked over the girls, leering at them as they did so, their perverse grins causing the girls to feel even more uneasy than they already were.

"Not quite as cute as the other one a few years ago, but I suppose they'll do," the first Rockets sneered.

"Yeah, fortunately they're not as violent as that Ketchum girl was," the second one said, grinning as he went to try to stroke May's arm.

May did not take kindly to his attempt to caress her and she threw a punch at him, only for the Rocket to catch it, the girl's eyes going wide with shock and fear. "Yeah, and they're not as good at fighting, either." He then sneered at the girl and said, "Breakin' you is gonna be fun."

The other Rocket was already stroking Dawn's face and hair, though in a way that showed only perverse lust, rather than affection. This caught the attention of a female Rocket who looked on at them giving an expression of disgust. "You _do_ know they're underage, right?"

"Yeah, and what's that got to do with it?" the Rockets sneered as they ignored the Rocket and focused back on the two girls, wrapping their arms around their waists and pulling them in closer.

"They won't be worth as much if they're not certified pure," the female Rocket answered, causing the other two to scowl.

"Who cares what they're gonna be worth? This is our victory celebration," the two Rockets declared perversely. "Giovanni got the hot one already. We need to have some fun, too, especially after the losses we took earlier today." Leering at the two girls, they continued, "And we most certainly are gonna be havin' fun with you later on," they finished, each of the Rockets licking their lips perversely as they approached the two girls, eager to defile their prizes.

However, before they could do anything to the girls, there was a clap of air and suddenly, a large bipedal cat-like Pokémon appeared in the center of the room, accompanied by Ash Ketchum and five Pokémon: Pikachu, Charizard, Greninja, Krookodile, and Tyranitar. The faces of the Rockets sunk at the sight of the boy and his Pokémon, while they seemingly ignored the real threat of Mewtwo. As for Ash, he scanned the area and quickly caught sight of his friends, but could not find his mother.

"Let my friends go now," Ash commanded in a low cold voice that May and Dawn almost did not recognize, or rather, would not have recognized as having come from him. The Rockets also recognized that its tone was more similar to Leaf's than his usual one.

"Oh crap," the Rocket caressing Dawn swore. "The rumors were true. The kid _did_ survive." The Rocket next to him, however, was not concerned about the boy.

"Don't you worry," the Rocket that grabbed May said. "He'll soon be dealt with," he continued as he drew a Ray Gun and put it to the girl's head. "He won't risk the safety of his friends, would he?" The Rocket that had grabbed Dawn did the same with her.

"Surrender now boy, or these girls die, if they're lucky," the Rocket who had grabbed Dawn and put a Ray Gun to her commanded with a sneer, making sure to leer perversely at the girl.

Ash and his Pokémon gritted their teeth, knowing that there was little they could do without endangering their friends in the process. Mewtwo, however, did not have that problem, though the Rockets were completely unaware of his powers. Ash then looked over to the Psychic-type Pokémon and gave a dark smile, nodding. The Rockets had made a fatal mistake. They had threatened the lives of his friends and for all he knew, had already assaulted them and/or molested them. The Rockets' lives were all forfeit. Mewtwo knew that the girls had not been defiled yet, but that made no difference to him. He hated all Rockets and knew that they were evil. He had not known, however, that Team Rocket was this evil, though. That made what he was about to do to them all that much easier.

Using his telekinetic abilities, Mewtwo caused the Rockets to shift their hands so that they were no longer holding their guns on the captive girls, but putting the Ray Guns to their own heads. His telepathy, however, prevented the Rockets from recognizing this fact. To them, they were still holding the guns to the heads of their captives.

"You heard us," the Rocket holding May declared. "Surrender yourself and your Pokémon now, or we'll kill your friends."

"Do we have to?" the Rocket holding Dawn whined. "I didn't get a chance to have any fun with this one."

"You can have fun with the corpse if the boy doesn't surrender," the first Rocket told him.

Their conversation horrified Ash. He had known that Team Rocket was evil, but this was beyond anything that he could ever have imagined. These were not the Rockets that he knew, not even the ones that he had fought at the party or in Team Rocket Headquarters. They would not last much longer, though, for they had lost their patience.

"So kid, what's your decision?" the Rocket asked harshly.

"I'll never surrender," Ash declared. "And you'll release my friends immediately."

"Well, sucks for you," the Rocket shrugged. "For the little bit of time you have left," he added with a snicker. The Rocket then shifted his position a bit so that he was holding his gun to the center of his head, though he believed that the was lined up perfectly for a shot on Ash's head right between the eyes. The other Rockets did the same with their Ray Guns, and probably were under the same mistaken impression that they were targeting either Ash or his Pokémon.

The Rocket that was holding Dawn drew her in and said, "Baby, when this is done, I'm gonna torture you to death right in front of this boy. It'll be the last thing he sees as he lays on the floor, dyin'. Heh, heh, heh."

Those would be the last words spoken by the Rocket, for just as he thought that he had lowered his gun to hit Ash in the throat, he pulled the trigger and a loud pop echoed throughout the room. The gun sent a laser blast straight through his own head, piercing his skull and destroying his brain in the process. The Rocket made no sound as he fell to the ground dead, dropping the Ray Gun in the process. The other Rockets also pulled the triggers of their own guns, and unknowingly ended their own lives the same way the first Rocket had.

With May and Dawn now safe, Ash went over to watch over them while Pikachu and the others went to deal with the rest of the Rockets since Mewtwo had left a few alive, along with those that were inside the basement that had come up to see what was causing all of the commotion. The Electric-type mouse spotted several Rockets coming up from a hidden staircase behind a wall and unleashed a barrage of Thunderbolts their way. The Rockets were not wearing any protective clothing and were instantly electrocuted by the Thunderbolts, the Rockets writhing in agony as electricity arced across their bodies before they collapsed, either unconscious or dead. Other Rockets had entered the casino from the outside and were quickly engaged by the rest of Ash's Pokémon friends and Tyranitar, who unleashed a barrage of Stone Edge, mowing down the Rockets before they could even think of going for their Poké Balls. Other Rockets had deployed their Pokémon, often consisting of Koffings and Weezings, but Charizard quickly dispatched them using Flamethrower to not only knock out the Pokémon, but also ignite the gasses emerging from the Poison-type gasbags. The ignition of the gasses resulted in several massive explosions that took out the Rockets that were trying to enter the Game Corner and rendered the other Pokémon that they had deployed unconscious.

A few other Rockets and Rocket Pokémon had tried to teleport into the Game Corner once they had heard about the trouble, only to appear outside of the building, rematerializing inside out or with their anatomy having been adjusted in its positioning since Mewtwo cast a shield that prevented teleportation from breaching it and also quickly scanned the Pokémon and people that were coming in and if they were Rockets or evil, they met an unexpected, and graphic, end outside the building. Mewtwo then scanned the rest of the base and teleported all of the Rockets and Rocket Pokémon that remained inside the base to prisons all across the planet, each one occupying a cell with a rather large sentient being that had anger management problems and needed someone or something to vent their anger on.

Once the Rockets inside the building had been dealt with, Ash, his Pokémon, and Mewtwo checked on his friends to make sure that they were okay. Mewtwo quickly scanned May and Dawn, learning that they had arrived soon enough to prevent the Team Rocket Grunts and Agents from carrying out their desires on the girls, but that they had still been treated rather poorly.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked May and Dawn, May putting on her standard attire over the woefully inappropriate dress that she had been forced to wear.

"We're fine now," May answered, breathing a sigh of relief.

"We wouldn't have been if you had arrived a few seconds later," Dawn answered.

"Then it's a good thing we arrived when we did," Mewtwo stated.

"How did you know where we were?" May asked Ash.

"Mewtwo scanned the Rockets at a small complex in Indigo Village that led us here," Ash answered.

"Mewtwo?" Dawn asked.

Ash motioned towards the bipedal cat-like Psychic Pokémon behind him. May remembered having seen a Mewtwo before, but this one was clearly different. "Greetings," Mewtwo said to the two females, bowing politely.

"It can talk?" May and Dawn gasped upon hearing Mewtwo's voice, despite the fact that he was speaking psychically.

"Yes," Mewtwo answered, this time speaking normally. "I just usually prefer speaking psychically. It also allows me to transfer information to the recipient faster, or allows me to talk more surreptitiously if needed."

"So you're not that Mirage Mewtwo Ash and I encountered a while ago," May said, half asking, half hoping.

Mewtwo shook his head. "No." He paused before continuing, "I don't know what a Mirage Mewtwo is, but I can assure you that I am a friend. Ash is one of my only human friends in the world."

Turning to Ash, May and Dawn asked, "How'd you meet?"

"It's a long story," Ash answered, almost blushing. "Let's just say that Mewtwo has experience training Pokémon and wasn't always so friendly with humans."

"Team Rocket took me from my mother when I was still an embryo and performed experiments on me," Mewtwo answered. "I once viewed all humans as being evil and Pokémon being worse for being willing servants. Ash, however, showed me that not all humans are like Team Rocket, and that his bond with his Pokémon friends is true. From what I have gathered, I would probably like his sister, too. I also think my mother has met her."

"Your mother?" Ash and the girls asked.

Mewtwo then recoiled in shock and concern. "Well, the less said about her, the better for now. We have an enemy that must be beaten and I won't shirk this responsibility any longer. Today, we will destroy Team Rocket, once and for all."

"Yeah!" everyone else declared.

While May and Dawn were talking to Mewtwo, Ash scanned the area for any sign of his mother but could not find her. He then went back to May and Dawn and asked, "Do you know where my mom is?"

The girls shook their heads. "No," May answered. "While we were brought here, your mother was taken somewhere else. I think Giovanni may have her, but I'm not certain."

"We may be able to find out," Mewtwo said, coming over to see them after having finished dealing with the remaining Rockets, having overheard Ash's question.

The cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon then vanished from the scene, a clap of air sounding as he vanished. After a few seconds, Mewtwo returned just as quickly as he had vanished. "Your mother was taken by Giovanni directly," Mewtwo answered. "He has her imprisoned inside Pokémon League Headquarters."

"Then we don't have any time to lose. We've gotta go there now and rescue her!" Ash blurted.

May and Dawn nodded in agreement.

"Get everything you'll need for the upcoming battle," Ash advised the others. "There's no way Giovanni will leave the base unprotected and we'll need every edge we can get against the Legendary Pokémon Team Rocket already has." He then looked around the casino and asked, "Is there anything here in the casino that may be of value to us for the upcoming battle?"

Mewtwo's eyes then flashed and suddenly, a large number of Lemonades and other healing items appeared before them, Full Restores, Max Revives, Max Ethers and Max Elixirs included. "Take everything you need," Mewtwo told them. "Anything we don't use will get destroyed. We can't let any other Rockets that come to investigate what happened here use these items or take them back to the Rockets at the Pokémon League to reinforce them."

"Right," Ash answered.

He looked over all of the items and took a few Lemonades for himself and his Pokémon friends. He also took a few more Max Ethers and Max Elixirs, knowing that his team would almost certainly get tired and if he was forced to face off against Mia's Pokémon, then he would want to have healing items for them, too. May and Dawn also filled their pockets and bags with as many items as they could hold as well. They, too, knew that the upcoming battle would be intense. This would be the final stand of Team Rocket and the corrupt members of the Pokémon League and while Ash and friends would be vastly outnumbered, the quality of Trainer on Ash's side would be far greater than that of Team Rocket. After all, they had Mewtwo on their side and from what they had seen, Mewtwo alone may well have been enough to destroy Team Rocket once and for all.

The girls then looked over at Ash, who was talking to Pikachu and the other Pokémon present. Judging by his expression, they felt that he was expecting some countermeasures from Team Rocket and it seemed as if he was expecting them to have something ready for dealing with Mewtwo as well. The girls quickly took what was left of the items and stuffed as many of them as they could in their bags and in their arms. They wanted to give some of the items to Lance and Cynthia as well since if Ash seemed to be concerned, then they should prepare for the worst.

Once they were ready, they went over to Ash, who had just finished talking with his Pokémon. When they arrived, he looked over at them and nodded, smiling and giving them a thumbs up. Looking over at everyone, it appeared as if they were ready to go.

"Okay everyone, are you ready?" Mewtwo asked the group.

Everyone nodded.

"Okay then, hold on," the cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon told them. "This won't take long. We'll reappear inside the computer complex in Indigo Village."

"Right," came the chorus of affirmatives. With that, Mewtwo's eyes flashed a deep blue and the group vanished from the Celadon City Game Corner.

Back at Pokémon League Headquarters, Giovanni was standing on the helipad of the base with his Persian by his side. Stationed on the helipad was a twin-rotored helicopter that had not yet stared its startup sequence. Standing before him were Gideon and an assault force of over a dozen Rocket Grunts. These Grunts, however, were not just armed with Pokémon, of which they primarily brought Psychic-types, the few remaining Psychic-type Pokémon left in Team Rocket's inventory, and Electric-types. They also brought along a few Koffings and Weezings in order to clear out any security at the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Once everyone was gathered and ready, Giovanni gave his final briefing.

"Okay, this mission is the most important mission Team Rocket had ever undertaken. It is more important even than the capture of Leaf and the control of Lance and Cynthia. The outcome of this mission will determine the fate of Team Rocket. If you succeed, nothing will be able to stop us. We will be able to resist any attempt by the Galactic Federation at controlling or stopping us. Instead, we will be able to control the Galactic Federation, itself, from behind the scenes." He then gave a pause before continuing, "However, if you fail, Team Rocket will be finished. Without control of every captured Pokémon in Japan, and possibly even the entire world, there will be no way we will be able to hold off the Federation and United Earth. And make no mistake; they will come for us. And they will be out for blood."

"Understood sir," the Rockets answered.

"One more thing: make sure that nothing can be traced back to us," Giovanni cautioned. "Despite the best-case scenario results, things could still go wrong if the people of Earth ever discover how we managed to take control of all the Pokémon. As such, when you get there, be stealthy and kill anyone who sees you. Also, leave no one in the transmission room alive. If need be, kill everyone inside the Radio Tower, itself."

"Right," the Rockets answered with a curt nod.

With that, the Rockets went up the boarding ramp and filed onto the helicopter. As they boarded, Giovanni looked sternly at the assault force and said quietly, "Everything depends on this mission."

Onboard the helicopter, Gideon went over to a bench and strapped himself in as the other Rockets in the assault force did likewise. He looked around the helicopter and noticed that the Rocket fighters were all quiet as they checked their weapons and gripped their Poké Balls, preparing for the mission at hand.

Once everyone was onboard, the boarding ramp closed and the pilot began the startup sequence. Pushing a few buttons and pulling on a lever, the motor began to echo throughout the cabin, rising in pitch as it began. Outside, the rotors began to turn, prompting Giovanni to return to the base's interior since it was about to get loud. Back inside the helicopter, Gideon waited nervously for the startup sequence to finish and for the mission to get underway. There were no windows for him to look out of so he did not know if they were going to face a fiery demise the way Dr. Zager and his force had when they were taking off to perform the mission that he and this assault force were about to undertake.

Suddenly, his mind became a jumble as he began to think about everything that could go wrong. What if there was more security than intelligence had indicated? What if there were military defenses around the Radio Tower? What if Ash Ketchum was still alive and he let loose his Charizard on the helicopter and it took them down? What if the Radio Tower personnel were ready for them and had called upon more defenses? What if everything that he was thinking turned out to be true? The scientist forced himself to take a deep breath. Once of the Rocket Grunts next to him noticed his discomfort.

"First time flying?" he asked almost in a humorous tone.

"No," Gideon answered nervously. "Just the first time being on an assault force."

"Well don't worry," the Rocket assured him. "The Radio Tower's got no idea we're comin'. This'll be a piece of cake."

"Famous last words," the scientist muttered, his nerves not improving.

Soon, the voice of the pilot boomed over the speakers and the whine of the engines. "Okay everyone, this is it. Strap in and get ready. We're about to take off for the most important mission of your careers."

"And the one that will decide our fates," Gideon muttered nervously. Despite the bravado of his companion, as well as the other Rockets, for all of them were grinning as they checked their weapons and fingered their Poké Balls, Gideon knew that this mission was no walk in the park. Any number of things could, indeed, go wrong at any time during the mission. There was also the dire prospect of the mission failing and him somehow surviving. He would become public enemy number one and likely have a huge bounty placed on his head, which brought in the nightmare of being hunted down by either Captain Falcon, or worse, Samus Aran. He shuddered at those dark prospects as he felt the helicopter lift off from the platform and rise into the air.

Back on the ground, the Rockets that were tasked with patrolling the exterior of Pokémon League, now Team Rocket, Headquarters watched as the helicopter lifted off from the landing pad. Once it had gained sufficient height, it rotated itself so that it was facing northwest and then rocketed off in that direction. The Rockets on the ground that knew of the mission grinned as the helicopter began its mission, some of them even waving as it departed, while the others simply kept their watch, not knowing, or caring, why the others were turning to face a helicopter that was departing, figuring that Giovanni was going somewhere important. Those in the know, though, knew the importance of the mission and that the fate of Team Rocket depended on the success of Gideon's mission. Once the helicopter disappeared over the horizon, the Rockets on the ground returned to their previous duties.

Meanwhile, inside the base, Giovanni made his way to his private office. He passed several Rocket Grunts along the way, each of who saluted him as he walked past. He took no heed of them as he made his way into his office. As the door shut behind him, the Rockets each turned and resumed their watch.

Inside his office, Giovanni was met by the massive armored warrior that Ganondorf had presented for him earlier. The moment the Rocket Boss had entered his office, the warrior stomped on the ground and saluted him. Giovanni did not know what to make of this display and he gave no command.

"Orders," a strong muffled voice asked, bowing before the Team Rocket leader. He was shocked when he thought that the voice may well have been that of a female, and possibly a young one at that. However, there was more to it than that. There was a sense of nobility in the warrior that both terrified and disgusted the Rocket Boss. Still, the warrior was his to command and he wanted to make sure that the warrior did not decide to serve other interests. As such, he considered what orders to give the massive warrior. Eventually, he decided on what orders to give.

"Keep watch outside my office. If any unauthorized personnel try to enter, kill them."

"As you command, sir," the warrior responded, bowing once more before turning and departing Giovanni's office. As the armored warrior departed, Giovanni could not help but wonder if he had heard that voice before, or had even previously encountered that warrior. There was something about it that was familiar, something that greatly concerned him. He did not let it distract him as he sat down at his desk and checked his drawer for his personal firearm. Taking the firearm, he placed it in a holster in his jacket and then sat back. His Persian immediately came over to him and purred, rubbing against his leg, hoping for him to pet him. Giovanni still ill at ease and did not notice Persian's bid for affection. Seeing that he would get little satisfaction from his master, Persian went over to the back corner of the office and curled up inside a cotton bed designed for the Pokémon. Giovanni simply sighed before focusing his attention back on his plans. While the true fate of Team Rocket lay in the hands of Gideon and the assault force attacking Goldenrod City's Radio Tower, he knew that there was still the threat of Ash Ketchum to deal with, along with Mewtwo. He only hoped that the defenses around the base would be sufficient to hold them at bay.

Meanwhile, Ash, May, Dawn, Ash's Pokémon, and Mewtwo reappeared inside the small security center that they had taken before Ash had gone to rescue his mother and friends from the Game Corner. When they did so, they quickly saw Lance and Cynthia sitting at two computers, staring at the screens. They seemed to have looks of shock and horror etched onto their faces. Noticing this, Ash and the others immediately went over to them.

"What is it?" asked Ash, looking at the screen and seeing a long report.

"The history of Pokémon," Cynthia answered distantly.

"But isn't that good?" Dawn asked. "I mean, if the League has knowledge on the origins of Pokémon, wouldn't that be a breakthrough in Pokémon research?"

"They've always known," Professor Oak answered from behind them.

"Known what?" May asked.

"What Mia suspected when she began her research," Lance began. He took a deep breath before continuing, "She always suspected that the legends about Pokémon were either incomplete or outright wrong. This, however, is more damning than anything."

"Mia was told by Watchmen that Pokémon were bioweapons when they tried to apprehend her shortly before the start of the Galactic Federation Civil War," Cynthia interjected. "These reports confirm that statement."

"So what is their origin?" May and Dawn asked, both of them beginning to take an interest in where this was going.

"Pokémon are no more than six or seven hundred years old," Cynthia began. "They were originally created by the Japanese government during Earth's third world war, with the planning process beginning shortly before the war after the failure of a project called Project Megaten. Pokémon were engineered because Russia, China, and the United States of America were not on friendly terms with each other and there was a cold war going on between the three powers. If a hot war were to break out, Japan would be a strategic location for any and/or all three of the countries. Since Japan demilitarized after World War Two, it would not be in any position to fight back any of the powers, much less hold out or survive if all three nations vied for position since it would give any of the powers strategic positioning for dealing with the other enemy powers. And to make matters worse, all three of those countries had large nuclear arsenals. Japan needed to have an edge in order to combat their militaries, knowing that all three powers would not want to use nukes against each other.

"When the war finally broke out, Japan held out for a while, due to the power of the Pokémon they had engineered and sent into battle, but the military might of China and Russia was too great and they eventually fell to China. America was busy fortifying its own positions and did not get involved in the fighting in Japan at that time. The Chinese government found out about Pokémon and took the initial Pokémon and indoctrinated them into their forces, while also engineering more Pokémon. When all was said and done, there were well over a thousand individual species of Pokémon engineered, not taking into account Legendary Pokémon. China then used them against Russia, inflicting great damage to Russia. However, Russia captured some Pokémon and managed to convince some of them to fight for them and they launched a counterattack on China, also striking at Japan since Pokémon originated there.

"America came in to try to liberate Japan from its occupation, and came up against the full might of Pokémon. However, despite the damage that Pokémon were able to inflict, America's military might was sufficient to defeat them because America had another weapon: psychics. During the fighting, America also managed to capture some Pokémon and convince them to fight for them. Soon, other countries came to discover how Pokémon were engineered and Euro quickly began engineering more Pokémon. Russia and China even began using Pokémon to attack the American homeland, but the American military forces and psychics managed to repulse them. Eventually, the war came to an abrupt end when the threat of the PSI Aliens was revealed. Pokémon were major players in the early parts of the war."

"Why just in the early parts of the war?" Ash asked.

"Because most Pokémon were exterminated in the war," Lance answered somberly.

"They were the front line troops used against the PSI Alien leader, Giygas, and the Starmen. They, particularly the Psychic, Bug, Dark, Steel, and Ghost-type Pokémon inflicted some noticeable damage to the attackers early on, with the Legendaries managing to inflict damage to the orbiting fleet, but the PSI Aliens were just too powerful and there were too few Pokémon. Many species of Pokémon were exterminated and the knowledge on how to make them was lost. That was one of the official reasons why Asia was the first continent targeted by the PSI Aliens. They wanted to eliminate Pokémon. And they did a good job. After the first few months, Pokémon became virtual non-issues since many were killed and the survivors did everything in their power to not draw attention to themselves. This, of course, meant that Earth was in trouble. In the end, it was saved by a miracle when three psychics arrived and freed a genius. Sources are sketchy but the current belief is that they managed to turn the PSI Alien leader, Giygas, who actually had uncertainties about his allegiance all throughout the fighting, and have him fight his own people. In the end, the PSI Alien fleet self-destructed shortly before their flagship exploded, killing all of the PSI Aliens. However, the cost for that miraculous victory was extreme since there were only about two billion survivors, many of them either being children or adults too old to reproduce.

"After the war, however, the question was what was to be done with the surviving Pokémon, since they had been engineered to fight and there was no war to fight. The last thing anyone wanted was another war that could risk finishing off humanity. That, along with humanity's Spiritual Revolution, made it so that exterminating the remaining Pokémon was out of the question. However, there were still questions as to what to do. Some, particularly those in America, who were the ones behind the Spiritual Revolution, wanted Pokémon to be free, seeing them as sentient beings. Others, however, viewing the danger that uncontrolled Pokémon posed, wanted there to be controls on them. The positions eventually fell along national lines. Those in Asia and in parts of Europe, particularly France, wanted there to be controls on Pokémon, while those in the west, particularly North America, Great Britain, and Ireland, wanted Pokémon to be free.

"While neither group wanted war, they could not agree on what should be done. As such, eventually, a compromise was reached. The world would be split in two: United Earth and the Pokémon World. And thus, the world was split in two: United Earth and the Pokémon World. The Pokémon World consisted of several regions in many countries, among them most, if not all of Japan's regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh; the northern part of France, now called Kalos, and even Unova, a small area near New York in America. There were also other regions that joined the Pokémon World. All other countries and regions became part of the government known as 'United Earth'. As you know, Unova has since rejoined United Earth since the Galactic Federation Civil War.

"The Pokémon World quickly came up with the various Pokémon Leagues in order to allow for a safe outlet for a Pokémon's natural aggression and love of battle. However, things have begun to change," Cynthia stated with a note of concern in her voice. She paused before continuing, "Pokémon have begun to show interest in things other than battle. Some wish to be workers while others seem to simply be left alone, training in the use of their strengths and powers, but in ways other than battle against one another. The Super Training program invented by the Kalos League's Lumiose City Gym Leader Clemont has allowed Pokémon to train up their abilities without requiring battles or the use of drugs. Many are beginning to fear that this could cause United Earth to try to make inroads to the Pokémon World since Pokémon are completely free in United Earth and while they may, and often do, work with people voluntarily, even in battle, they may not be captured. That is why the Pokémon League was greatly disturbed by Mia when she destroyed all of the seals on her Poké Balls, freeing her Pokémon. They fear that her actions are just feeding those who are calling for the freeing of Pokémon. You can read all of the reports on the computer screens here." She then stepped aside to allow the others a chance to read what she had already summarized.

"And they're not necessarily wrong," Lance interjected, turning to face the group. "The issue is that many are calling the current situation slavery, which is strictly outlawed in both the Galactic Federation and United Earth. Heck, even the Pokémon World has outlawed slavery. If Pokémon Training in any of its forms is seen as slavery, that could cause problems for the Pokémon World." Lance did not elaborate any further.

"Then why would the Pokémon League work with Team Rocket?" May asked, doing her best to take everything in as Ash went to sit at the console and read through all of the reports and the true history of Pokémon.

"Because they fear what United Earth will do to the Pokémon World now that Pokémon sentience is not only indisputable but also the fact that Pokémon Training could be seen as a form of slavery," Cynthia answered. "Team Rocket has a machine that will allow them to control all captured Pokémon."

"What good would that do them?" Dawn asked. "They'd still have to deal with uncaptured Pokémon and United Earth and possibly the Galactic Federation."

"They wouldn't fight them directly," Mewtwo interjected. "They'd do what I did with that Nurse Joy on New Island when I invited Ash and others to New Island. Their plan is almost certainly to use their controlled Psychic-type Pokémon to mind control the leaders of United Earth and possibly even the Galactic Federation. They would rule from the shadows and no one would be any wiser. For the Pokémon League, it would kill two birds with one stone. Unfortunately, for them, Team Rocket also used this opportunity to take out the Pokémon League leadership. However, Giovanni is more than willing to use their plan to take over the world. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Team Rocket actually originated the plan and broached the subject with the League, itself."

"I wouldn't either," Cynthia stated plainly.

"But now, it falls to us to stop Team Rocket before they can accomplish their goal," Lance stated forcefully, clenching his hand into a fist.

"Then let's do it," May and Dawn declared.

They then looked down at Ash, who was looking over the report, studying everything. Eventually, he looked up from the computer and quietly said, "Now I understand." This statement surprised the others, particularly Dawn.

"Understand what?" Dawn asked, wondering what he could mean.

Ash then looked up at his friend. "Now I understand what Mia meant earlier and why she disabled the seals on her Poké Balls. They aren't servants. They aren't really even hers, not in her mind and not in theirs, either. Her Pokémon are true friends, free and proud. And that scared the Pokémon League more than anything."

"But why?" Dawn asked. "Why would the Pokémon League fear that?"

"Two reasons," Lance answered. "First, they know what Pokémon unleashed are truly capable of. They view Pokémon as dangerous beings. And one will have difficulty blaming them. Have you seen a Pokémon fully unleashed? Second, they are scared that other Trainers will think like Mia and begin freeing their Pokémon, possibly causing the Pokémon League to lose power over Trainers."

"But how can the League control Trainers?" May inquired, siding up next to Cynthia to read the report.

"They can't directly, yet," Lance answered.

"What do you mean by yet?" Dawn asked.

"Team Rocket has a plan for taking control of all captured Pokémon," Lance and Cynthia answered. "Their plan is to install a program into a computer and use badges to control Pokémon. They'll use that to either blackmail Trainers to serve them, or take direct control of their Pokémon using their own badges. After all, Giovanni was once the Viridian City Gym Leader. He also has badges from his own Pokémon journey. You can bet that a lot of Rockets also took the Gym Leader challenge specifically to ensure that they have a lot of badges with which to control Pokémon."

"And with their computer program, they would be able to transfer all Pokémon to their own control," Mewtwo stated plainly. "And with their badge machine, they would have complete mental control of the Pokémon."

The girls shuddered at Mewtwo's foreboding answer. Neither of them had known how far Team Rocket was willing to go to rule the world. While Ash had told both of them about his adventures in Unova, including his fight against Giovanni and how Giovanni tried to take control of the Kami Trio, he they did not know how truly dangerous Team Rocket really was. All they had really encountered before were Jessie, James, and Meowth. In their minds, they knew that Jessie, James, and Meowth were not representative of Team Rocket's real power or threat, but they had no idea that the real Team Rocket was so bad. They were like an organized crime syndicate.

Ash, however, was ignoring the conversation that the others were having since he had discovered something else on the computer. In the corner of the screen, he had found a file on an indoctrination program. According to the file, the program was based on taking at risk children and raising them to be Team Rocket operatives in order to infiltrate the Pokémon League. Upon opening it, he found that the best candidate for the program had been none other than his own sister, Mia. His eyes shot wide when he read that and he had decided to delve into the reports on Mia's capture and her time in captivity. He scowled as he read the title of the file: _Captive – Mia Ketchum_. He then read the report.

 _File – Mia Ketchum._

 _Subject – Viability of captive for infiltration._

 _Text – Subject shows a strong independent qualities yet her focus and determination in both class and in physical education is second to none. Her looks are also disarming when she wishes for them to be, though she has difficulty hiding any disdain for those she does not respect. Subject is highly skilled in the martial arts for one of her age and also shows aptitude for leadership. Also problematic is the subject's love for her father, though her feelings for her mother appear to be lukewarm at the moment, something that we may be able to use to our advantage. If subject can be properly conditioned, the subject would become a tremendous asset for Team Rocket and for the upcoming project. As is, the subject's viability for Project League Infiltration is unclear. Even if the subject is shown to be unviable for Project League Infiltration or resists indoctrination, subject's physical appearance would make her highly valuable on the Human black market, more so than the other captives. Perhaps, if her skills became properly honed, she could even be reusable._

As soon as Ash had finished reading the first report, he noticed that there was a series of reports that detailed Mia's time in captivity, as well as her viability as a potential agent of Team Rocket. He then delved into the rest of the reports.

 _File – Mia Ketchum._

 _Title – Capture of candidates._

 _Subject – Subject's capture._

 _Text – Subject's recent capture has the potential to be a major victory for Team Rocket. In the capture, subject showed a great deal of skill, observation, and ruthlessness. If that can be tempered by a respect for Team Rocket's authority, subject could be the best candidate for Project League Infiltration and could be come a high-ranking Rocket Agent. The loss of several Rocket Agents as well as Madame Boss was unexpected and unfortunate, as well as the fact that the subject's father fought for her and has pursed her. However, with our infiltration of the local government, we have been able to make it appear as if her father is a criminal to the outside world. When he is dealt with, she will have no one to look to except us. Then, the real indoctrination will begin._

With that, the second report ended, prompting Ash to click on the next report.

 _File – Mia Ketchum._

 _Title – Report #3_

 _Subject – Scores on subject and viability for Team Rocket._

 _Author – Viper_

 _Text – Subject's scores in physical training and in Pokémon Training are off the charts. She is currently undefeated in Pokémon battling and in her sparring matches. However, there are several issues coming to the forefront about the subject as well. Subject has been known to show compassion to Pokémon and even to other captives. She has also become a leader to other captives and even those older than her look up to her. If this can be molded to our uses, this child would be perfect leader for a new generation of Team Rocket Agents._

At the end of the last report, Ash proceeded to click on the fourth report.

 _File – Mia Ketchum._

 _Title – Report #4_

 _Subject – Problems arising in indoctrination of subject._

 _Author – Viper_

 _Text – Attempts at indoctrinating the subject are proving to be highly difficult. Subject has routinely done what she wants, when she wants, how she wants. Subject has been found out of her room late at night sneaking in food, both for herself as well as for her Pokémon. Others have even seen her praying at times. In battle classes, she refuses to punish Pokémon for disobeying commands or losing, not that she has ever lost a battle and reports have come to my attention of the subject actually intervening when others are to be punished, human and Pokémon alike. One report even goes as far as to complain that she lashed out at an instructor for attempting to punish a candidate for showing compassion, with another accusing her of using her own body as a shield to protect a candidate that had refused to whip a Pokémon for losing a battle. The most concerning report, however, is one that the child is teaching her Pokémon, rather than merely indoctrinating them to be her servants. Reports from other students, albeit all of them girls, infiltrating her small clique have said that she is teaching Pokémon how to rely on themselves rather than on their Trainers. While such reports have yet to be substantiated by my staff, and may well be false since Mia does have several rivalries with other girls due to her skills and looks, if this proves to be true, this could be a major issue in our attempts to indoctrinate her._

 _Addendum – While many have broached the subject of attempting to use Psychic-type Pokémon to brainwash Mia, like we did with her twin brother and mother, I believe that it would not be wise to do so. First of all, she has a fierce fighting spirit and a strong mind and we don't want to risk of damaging that if we use mind-control on her. Second, there is the possibility that it could very well fail, due to her aforementioned strong mind and willpower, as well as her practice of prayer and meditation. If that happened, we would not only lose her forever, but also potentially create a terrible enemy, one that has the potential to be the organization's bane._

After the report had ended, Ash then clicked on the last file.

 _File – Mia Ketchum._

 _Title – Report #5_

 _Subject – Subject's viability for Team Rocket and what to do with her._

 _Author – Viper_

 _Text – I'll get right to the point. Mia Ketchum is not a viable subject for indoctrination into Team Rocket. She has a completely different set of values than us, as evidenced by her frequent prayer and meditation, as well as her selflessness when dealing with other children, those not actively serving Team Rocket. As you almost certainly know by now, the reports about her teaching her Pokémon are true and have been substantiated by my staff and others. Even worse is that she actively encourages her Pokémon to battle without her guidance. In recent battles, she has been seen studying the battlefield while the Pokémon fights the battle against the other Trainer. When asked about this, she said that it gives both the Pokémon and Trainer more freedom in the fight. She says that it wastes time to give an order in the heat of battle, particularly an order like 'dodge and use such and such attack'. She says that it also gives her opponent an edge in a battle and that by teaching the Pokémon to fight without guidance from a Trainer, opposing Trainers and Pokémon are caught off guard and won't dodge an attack until it is too late. While such statements do ring true, it is clear that she also is using it as a cover. She is raising Pokémon that are loyal to her and her small clique. She must be stopped at once. I recommend that we dispose of her immediately. She is too resourceful and too ruthless to risk prostituting or selling into slavery. In addition, all attempts at using surreptitious mind-control have failed, likely due to her frequent recourse to prayer and meditation, which is strengthening her already strong mind and will, and building resistance to outside attempts to influence her. Death is the only option for dealing with her. We may yet be able to salvage the rest of the program, but Mia Ketchum must be disposed of. She is an experiment that has failed._

When Ash finished the report, he saw that it was dated only a few weeks after his and Mia's ninth birthday. He seethed in anger after he closed the file and shut down the computer. He then rose from the station and went over to May, Dawn, Mewtwo, and the others while they were still talking. The others turned when they saw him coming and Mewtwo gave a somber incline of his head. Both May and Dawn knew that something was wrong.

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

Ash did not immediately answer them, looking down at the ground, attempting to rein in his emotions. After a few seconds, he looked up and answered, "I just saw a report that Team Rocket made on Mia. It stated how she was originally the perfect candidate for Team Rocket indoctrination. It explained how she was to infiltrate the Pokémon League on their behalf. It also stated that there were other children." He then paused. "It also explained that she actively resisted their attempts at indoctrinating her." He gave another pause. "She is the better of us." He then gritted his teeth and finished, "And I'm gonna save her, no matter the cost."

"We're with you, Ash," both May and Dawn declared, siding up next to him. Their Pokémon soon joined him, as did his own Pokémon, along with Tyranitar.

Professor Oak, Lance, and Cynthia soon joined him and declared, "We're with you too."

"We'll need a plan," Ash began. "Team Rocket's main goal is to take control of all the Pokémon of Japan."

"They'll need their machine in order to do so," Lance stated. "So even if they manage to take control of the Goldenrod City Radio Tower, they'll need their machine in order to take control of the Pokémon. Without it, Pokémon can still rebel.

"So we'll launch a two-pronged attack," Cynthia concluded. "Lance and I will go to Goldenrod City and stop Team Rocket there while the rest of you face down Giovanni at Pokémon League Headquarters."

"If Goldenrod City's Radio Tower is important, TR'll likely take along their strongest troops and Pokémon," Lance added. "Hopefully, the headquarters will be undermanned."

"We'll still have to face down Legendary Pokémon," Mewtwo cautioned. "I can handle them if that's all I have to face."

"Who else would you have to worry about?" Ash asked.

"A magician with a great deal of power," the Psychic-type Pokémon answered.

Ash's face then went dark. "This magician, do you know what he looks like?"

Mewtwo shook his head. "No, I only managed to sense him during my battle against Aizen. I know that he witnessed my battle against Aizen. He is very powerful and to make matters worse, I was unable to get a good read on his power. Why?"

"Because my father warned me about a person named Ganondorf," Ash informed him. "He said that Ganondorf is a high-ranking leader in the Subspace Army and his commanding officer. He said that Ganondorf sensed a powerful presence on Earth that may have been associated with Team Rocket."

"Aizen," Mewtwo stated darkly. "Then there's no doubt in my mind. The presence I sensed at my battle was Ganondorf."

"It's also possible that Team Rocket's technology and weapons come from the Subspace Army, too," Ash added. "But we can't let that stop us."

"Who's Ganondorf?" May, Dawn, Lance, and Cynthia asked, perplexed at what Mewtwo was talking about.

"He's a magician that witnessed my battle against Aizen," Mewtwo explained as he turned to see Ash's friends approach. "He's very powerful and I did not get a good read on his power. I will say that it was different than the power wielded by Aizen."

The answer did not give May or Dawn any comfort but Ash did not let the prospect of fighting an unknown fighter like Ganondorf concern him. He then clenched his fingers into a fist. "We've gotta stop Team Rocket now, no matter who stands against us."

"Then let's do it!" May and Dawn declared, steeling their resolve. Tracey, Professor Oak, and the others soon joined in the cheer.

Meanwhile, over at Pokémon League Headquarters, Ganondorf was standing on the top of the helipad along with the massive armored warrior that was supposed to be protecting Giovanni. He turned to the warrior and looked at it sternly.

"Our enemies will be coming for Team Rocket soon," he told the warrior.

"What are your orders for when they come?" the warrior asked.

"Remain here for now. Giovanni will come to this place when they get past the outer defenses."

"Will the Psychic-type Pokémon not merely teleport them right to Giovanni?"

"I will take precautions against that," Ganondorf assured the warrior.

The sorcerer then closed his eyes and raised his right hand. A purple pulsating ball of energy formed over his hand. He then released the ball of energy into the air and it rose from his had, rising into the air. It rose until it was fifty feet above the top spire of Pokémon League Headquarters. It then exploded into a large dome of purple energy that began to flow down invisible walls. The wall of energy continued to descend until it touched the ground and burrowed deep into it. The dome of energy then vanished from sight but it was still there. Ganondorf then smiled. "Now, they'll have to come to us on our terms," he said in a sinister tone.

Ash and the others gathered around Mewtwo, wanting to be close to the Pokémon when they teleported out of the security center. Ash and his friends gathered their Pokémon all around them, forming a ring, wanting to be certain that they reappeared that Team Rocket would not be able to blindside them. Just when they were ready for Mewtwo to teleport them, the Psychic-type Pokémon's eyes glowed as he scanned the area to make sure that there were no unexpected defenses or safeguards in place. Sure enough, he soon found one, a shield that had the same power signature that he had sensed from Ganondorf after his fight against Aizen. His eyes soon returned to normal and he looked over at the group.

"Team Rocket has a shield up over the base," he stated plainly.

"Can it be pierced?" asked Professor Oak.

"It is magical," Mewtwo answered. He then shook his head. "No, it cannot be pierced by teleportation. However, we can walk right through it. However, most defensive barriers like this also have a scrambling effect that makes it dangerous to teleport just outside the field. I will teleport us about one hundred and fifty meters away from the barrier. That should be a safe enough distance away from the barrier to not trigger any real defenses. However, that also means that Team Rocket will know that we're coming. They'll likely have set up traps and stationed sentries around the headquarters."

Ash then looked over at Cynthia and asked, "Do you have any schematics of League Headquarters?"

Cynthia took out a datapad and gave it to the boy. "This contains the entire layout of League Headquarters. With this, you should be able to find your way around."

Ash took the pad and looked back at Mewtwo and nodded, indicating that he was ready. Once everyone was ready, the group disappeared from the security center.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

The group reappeared in an empty field approximately two hundred meters away from League Headquarters, for the shield extended fifty meters beyond the building. The moment they reappeared, Mewtwo sensed that the building's defenses had already been alerted to their presence and that there was movement. Sure enough, two attack helicopters with red Rs on their sides rose from the building's roof and made their way towards the group. The presence of the attack helicopters surprised the humans in the group.

"Attack helicopters?" Lance mused. "That's not the usual weapon of choice for Team Rocket."

"They want us dead and they're pulling out all the stops," Cynthia answered.

Ash made no comment as he and his Pokémon readied themselves for the coming assault and to launch their counterattack. Ash fingered his Key Stone and prepared to have Charizard Mega Evolve so he could quickly deal with the attack helicopters. Mewtwo, however, stopped him, stepping out in front of the group, telling them, "Save your power for the later fight, Ash. Let me take care of this."

Quickly deciding that it would be best to let Mewtwo deal with the attack helicopters, the others stood back while Mewtwo focused on the approaching aircraft. Mewtwo raised a shield over the party as the helicopters opened fire on the group. Lasers, rockets, and missiles erupted from the two helicopters as they targeted the group. The munitions struck the shield, causing it to flare a bright blue, but did not inflict any damage to it. Mewtwo then focused his gaze of the two helicopters and fired a single Aura Sphere at each of the aircraft. Each Aura Sphere scored a direct hit on the center of mass of each helicopter and pierced their hulls, destroying them. The helicopters exploded in midair, debris raining down on the landscape.

"Go," Mewtwo directed the others as the group surged towards League Headquarters.

The group cautiously made their way towards the League Headquarters, each one keeping a close eye out for any other sentries. There was no way that they had not been spotted by Team Rocket security. Still, there were no signs of any other types of defenses around the building save for the shield, which they could see pulsating in the distance. Not that any other defenses would be effective against Mewtwo, but it was doubtful that Team Rocket knew that Mewtwo was with them or what Mewtwo's full power was, for even Ash did not know that. They figured that Team Rocket must have been relying on the shield to protect themselves from assault.

As the group made their way towards Pokémon League Headquarters, Ash could not help but notice that as they continued on their journey, there was still no sign of additional security measures. It seemed as if the shield was the first and really only line of external defense for League Headquarters. They knew that Team Rocket had taken significant losses during the attack on Team Rocket Headquarters, as well as the attack on the Celadon City Game Corner, but they still had the Legendary Pokémon and likely other Pokémon to draw from as well, not to mention the potential of facing down this Ganondorf if he took an interest in the outcome of this fight.

The group quickly approached the barrier, which was now shimmering no less than twenty feet in front of them. Looking around, there were still no signs of additional security measures around the building. The group figured that whatever was left of security for the League Headquarters was likely inside the base. They still suspected that it consisted of Legendary Pokémon, though, and Ash and the others were ready to face just such an eventuality.

When they arrived at the barrier, Mewtwo stopped and prompted the rest of the group to stop as well, the psychic bipedal cat-like Pokémon holding up his hand. The others stopped and waited as Mewtwo scanned the area, and then the barrier, itself, his eyes glowing. After a few seconds, Mewtwo's eyes returned to normal and he told the others, "It appeared as if I was incorrect about the barrier. This one will not let us through even if we walk at a slow speed. It needs to be collapsed before we can proceed."

"Can you take it down?" Lance asked.

Mewtwo grinned. "Of course."

Mewtwo then stepped forwards and powered a Psystrike, blue waves of psychic energy appearing over his hands. The waves powered up for several seconds before he propelled them against the barrier. The barrier flared a deep gold when the waves of psychic energy made contact with it. That told Ash and the others that this was no ordinary barrier, something that Mewtwo already knew. The psychic attack struggled to pierce the barrier and Mewtwo was forced to push more energy into the attack.

As the psychic cat-like Pokémon pushed more energy into his attack, the barrier reacted. It glowed more brightly and an indent began to form where Mewtwo's Psystrike was making contact with it. The wave of energy pushed against the indent and was beginning to make headway against it. After a few more moments, cracks began to form on the barrier close to the point of impact. The cracks then began to spread out from the point of impact and the group realized that the barrier was beginning to fail. Knowing that if it fell, that its remains may fall on top of them, Ash and the others backed away from the barrier as Mewtwo made one final push against it. Pushing one last bit of energy into his Psystrike, he pierced the barrier, the shimmering golden shield shattering into thousands of sparkles of energy. Mewtwo backed away from the barrier as it fell, the sparkles of energy falling to the ground and dissipating, inflicting burns to the landscape around them.

Once the barrier was down, Mewtwo extended his psychic senses into the base. As he had suspected, Team Rocket was now on alert. There were not a lot of Grunts remaining, but those that did remain were equipped with the strongest Pokémon available to Team Rocket, as well as some Legendary Pokémon. In addition, Mewtwo was able to locate Giovanni and Delia, an instant before his senses seemingly became scrambled. He grimaced.

"He's here," the psychic cat told everyone.

"Who is?" Dawn asked.

"Ganondorf," Mewtwo answered. "He scrambled my senses as I was scanning the base."

"Did you locate Giovanni, my Mom, and/or Mia?" came Ash's question.

"Yes," Mewtwo answered, nodding. "Giovanni and your mother are at the top of the base in Giovanni's office. I could not find your sister, though. What makes you think she's here?"

Ash sighed. "I don't know," he answered. "I just hoped that she would be here."

"Well right now, we have to focus on the task at hand: the defeat of Giovanni and Team Rocket," Mewtwo told the boy. "Chances are that by doing that, we'll learn more about your sister's fate."

"Right," Ash replied, nodding. With that, the group proceeded to make their way towards Pokémon League Headquarters.

Meanwhile, inside of Pokémon League Headquarters, Giovanni was sitting in his private chamber with Delia. He would often glance over at Delia and give a grin while the woman would simply recoil and look away. Eventually, she managed to get a reaction out of him.

"You know you may as well resign yourself to the fact that you're going to be staying here with me for a long time."

"Ash and the others will defeat you," Delia retorted plainly. "And you know this, otherwise, you wouldn't have made any deals with that stranger." Delia grinned at the Rocket Boss but he was not troubled.

Giovanni chuckled at Delia's statement. "You really think that your son can defeat me, don't you?"

"Not think, know," Delia answered confidently.

"I can assure you that if your son comes here, that he comes to his death."

Delia was about to make a retort when the building began to shake. Dust rained down from the ceiling as a glass that was situated too close to the table's edge fell off the table and shattered on the ground, causing Persian to look up in surprise. It then glanced over at Giovanni and went over to him, but the Rocket Boss was preoccupied with Delia.

"It looks like your plans are about to come crashing down around you," Delia said with a grin.

Giovanni merely reflected Delia's own grin back at her. "Far from it," he answered. "If anything, your son and his friends are about to be in for the surprise of their lives. I still have a base full of loyal Rockets. They'll have a fight before they reach me."

Delia merely grinned. "But you have nowhere else to go, Giovanni. This is it. If you lose now, it's all over."

"It most certainly will be, at least for your son," Giovanni retorted with a grin as he looked out the window. He knew that his trump cards would not fail him. Ganondorf had his own stake in this battle so he knew that his benefactor would not betray him, at least not yet. All he had to do now was wait. However, he would still take precautions. The last thing he could afford to do was to be taken off guard. Ash may not have been Mia, but he had still managed to defeat her in a battle. If it came down to a battle between him and Ash, he needed to have an edge. Fortunately, he just happened to have one.

Back outside the base, as Ash and the others approached the building's, they finally encountered more conventional resistance in the form of a quartet of Team Rocket Grunts. Each of the Grunts had two Poké Balls in their hands. Pikachu, however, did not give them a chance to deploy their Pokémon, though, for he simply powered a Thunderbolt and unleashed it on the Rockets. Electricity arced across their bodies as they were shocked into unconsciousness at best.

Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Lance and Cynthia charged over to the Rockets and placed seals on their Poké Balls, ensuring that Team Rocket would not be able to open those Poké Balls without going through a great deal of trouble. They also bound the hands and feet of the unconscious Rockets to further neutralize their threat without having to kill them. Besides, they would be useful sources of intelligence.

Once they had bound the hands and feet of the Rockets, the group made their way towards the League Headquarters. As they approached the entrance, the group carefully kept their eyes open to make sure that they were not ambushed by any enemies teleporting into the fray behind them and attacking from behind.

May took out one of her Poké Balls and opened it, sending out Beautifly. Once she had released Beautifly, she told the Pokémon, "Beautifly, use Psychic to find out if there are any defenses inside the building and if there are, send us their information."

"Beautifly," the butterfly-like Pokémon answered, nodding before its eyes began to glow. The Pokémon promptly scanned as far into the interior of the base as its abilities allowed it to. While it did know Psychic, it did not have the ability to use it at the same level as a Psychic-type Pokémon, so its scan distance was limited. Still, it was better than nothing and was able to get a cursory scan of the defenses inside the base from the mind of one of the Rockets on the inside.

It promptly relayed the information back to May and the others, including Tyranitar, who despite being a Dark-type Pokémon, was still able to receive friendly psychic messages. As such, the whole team knew the defenses that Team Rocket had stationed in the lobby of the headquarters. There were four Rocket Grunts and two Rocket Agents, each of who was equipped with Poison-type Pokémon, mostly Grimers and Koffings, along with a couple of Muks and Weezings, but there was one Rocket with two Abras and a Kadabra. This caused Ash to grow concerned, knowing that a Psychic-type Pokémon may have been able to fool the psychic senses of a non-Psychic-type Pokémon, something he was quick to point out to May.

"May, are you sure that Beautifly's scan is accurate?" the boy asked. "Those Abras and Kadabra may have been able to fool Beautifly's senses."

May nodded. "Positive," she answered in no uncertain terms. Her expression also showed her confidence in her Pokémon's assessment of the situation.

"Perform another scan once we deal with the Rockets in the lobby," Lance directed. "We need to know what to expect once we get inside."

"Will do," May answered.

With that, the group glanced at each other and checked on the Pokémon to make sure that everyone was ready.

"Okay guys," Ash directed. "When we go in, we go in hot. Everyone pick your targets and attack. There is no distinction between Trainer and Pokémon. Both are enemies here. We'll need to deal with both of them."

The Pokémon each nodded and uttered their name as confirmation of Ash's direction. Tyranitar and Charizard both gave eager grunts, smashing their fists into their hands in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Once everyone was ready, they proceeded to burst through the door and engage the Rockets on the other side.

Ash and the others burst through the entrance, catching the Rockets on the other side completely off guard, Beautifly used Psychic to take out two Weezings while Tyranitar burst through and used Earthquake to take down the two Muks that were preparing to launch Sludge Bombs at the group. The shaking of the ground also caused the Rockets to lose their footing, having to focus on attempting, and failing, to stay standing rather than deploying their Pokémon to defend the base. This left them open to attack from both Pikachu and Pachirisu, who unleashed a Thunderbolt and Discharge respectively. Electricity arced across the bodies of the Rockets and the Rockets were taken down with single attacks, the Rocket Agents having been completely electrocuted by the attacks, their eyes wide open in shock as they fell to the ground, likely dead. The Grunts were merely rendered unconscious and fell to the ground, electric sparks still arcing across their bodies.

Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Ash and Dawn went over to the unconscious Rockets and bound their hands and feet. Lance and Cynthia then went over to grab their Poké Balls and place seals on them to lock the Pokémon inside, not wanting to have to deal with any Rocket Pokémon if they could help it. They then returned the unconscious Muks and Weezings to their Poké Balls and locked their Poké Balls as well.

After they had neutralized the Rockets and their Pokémon, May looked over at Beautifly and nodded once more, telling it that it should scan the interior of the base. Beautifly nodded and its eyes began to glow once more. It scanned the base to try to ascertain the defenses stationed inside the base. This time, scanning the interior was far more difficult, for this time, there were several psychic barriers in place. It looked back at May and shook its head.

"It's no good," she grunted. "There are wards all over the place."

"I'll handle this," Mewtwo answered, stepping forward. The Psychic cat-like Pokémon's eyes then glowed as he performed his own scan of the base. As he scanned the interior of the base, he was able to identify the locations of each of the Rockets and what types of defenses they had with them. He also managed to glean the fact that Ganondorf was inside the base as well, as well as the fact that Ganondorf must have caught his scan, for the head of the Gerudo King turned and the cat-like Pokémon was able to see the glowing yellow eyes of the evil king. Mewtwo then cut the scan and made his report.

"There are fewer Rockets here than I initially expected," he reported. "Most of the Rockets are making their way to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower so they can release a code that would allow them to take control of all of the Trainer-controlled Pokémon in Japan. However, I think that this plan can be thwarted if we manage to destroy the Badge Amplifier. If we destroy that, then the code might not be enough to take control of the Pokémon."

"Where is this machine?" Cynthia asked.

"In the grand meeting room on the first floor," Mewtwo answered. "However, it is heavily protected by several Team Rocket Agents, Executives, as well as by their security chiefs."

"Where's Mom?" Ash asked.

"She's in Giovanni's office on the top floor," Mewtwo told him. "They're protected by several Rocket Grunts as well as the Trio," he added, indicating the presence of Jessie, James, and Meowth. "I also sensed the presence of another fighter, one that I could not identify but one that is still quite dangerous."

"So how do you want us to do this?" Dawn asked.

"Lance and I will go and destroy that machine. If we do that, Team Rocket's plan will be crippled," Cynthia volunteered. Lance nodded, curling his hands into fists in anticipation.

"I'll go and save Mom," Ash replied.

"We're coming with you," May and Dawn both volunteered.

"Tracey and I will keep watch down here and monitor the situation," Professor Oak volunteered. "We'll come to the aid of whoever needs our help."

The others nodded.

"I'll go with Ash, too," Mewtwo stated, looking over at the boy. "I have a feeling that Ganondorf may be close to Giovanni and you'll need to be careful if he appears."

"Got it," Ash, May, and Dawn answered, nodding.

Once the plan was made, the group broke off into their various teams, Lance and Cynthia forming one team, Professor Oak and Tracey, keeping watch in the lobby, and Ash, May, Dawn, and Mewtwo forming the other teams. Once they were ready, the teams went their various ways in order to take down Giovanni and Team Rocket once and for all.

Lance and Cynthia made their way towards the hallway that would hopefully take them towards the base's security center so they could take out Team Rocket security and also relay everything that they had learned about the Pokémon League's deal with Team Rocket as well as Team Rocket's plan to the country's Gym Leaders as well as rest of the Pokémon World. They soon found the door to the hall and stopped for a second, prompting their Pokémon to stop with them. They wanted to be sure that they were not heading into a trap. Peering through the door's

glass window, they scanned the area to see if there were any Rockets in her line of sight. Seeing none, they pulled the door open and rushed on in, both Lance and Cynthia pulling out their Ray Gun and holding them in front of them, peering down the corridor while their Pokémon surged through. They soon stepped out into the open, followed by their Pokémon. Cynthia turned to the right and led the way, followed closely by Lance with Garchomp and Dragonite joining them in the lead, and with Spiritomb bringing up the rear, looking backwards to make sure that they were not attacked from behind.

As they moved forward, Cynthia looked back at Spiritomb, inquiring, "Anyone following us?"

The part Ghost-type Pokémon spun around and shook its form, indicating that there was no one behind them. The group then moved forward cautiously, not wanting to give away their presence to Team Rocket. Lance and Cynthia both scanned the corridor for any signs of cameras. Surprisingly, though, there were none, which gave them no comfort. They glanced at each other and nodded, suspecting that Team rocket was using alternative methods of keeping watch on the corridors. That also meant that chances were that they had been discovered and Team Rocket was already making plans.

It did not take long for the group to arrive at the security center. The center was protected by a large metal door with a security panel next to it. There were several buttons arrayed in a standard configuration with numbers and symbols on said buttons. As they approached the door, Lance grunted.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked.

"Now's the time I wish we had a Psychic-type Pokémon on our team, or at least one that knew Psychic," Lance replied in hushed tones.

Cynthia had to suppress a chuckle, for Lance was, indeed, right. With Mewtwo and May going to help Ash, strongly suspecting that the real danger lay on the boy's path, rather than their own, they merely brought the Pokémon that were on them at the time they were without a Psychic-type Pokémon. However, they were not without a Pokémon that knew Psychic. Cynthia looked over at Spiritomb and nodded.

Lance looked over at Cynthia and asked, "What is it?"

"As it just so happens, we _do_ have a Pokémon that knows Psychic."

Lance looked at her quizzically when he suddenly saw Spiritomb appear next to her and she smiled knowingly. Lance then grinned, realizing what she meant. This was even better since Spiritomb was part Dark-type, which would make it immune to a psychic scan from any potential Psychic-type Pokémon inside the security center.

Cynthia then went over to Spiritomb and told it, "Spiritomb, scan the people inside the security center. See if you can get the access code to the door as well. Once we do that, we'll play havoc with their security and also alert the Gym Leaders and other Elite Four members as to what's going on here."

Spiritomb nodded as it went about its work. While Spiritomb was scanning the interior of the room, Lance and Cynthia gathered the rest of their teams around them.

"Okay everyone, we're going to take down the security center and start playing havoc with the base's security," Cynthia began. "We'll also be wanting to contact the Gym Leaders and other Elite Four members too, so make sure that at least one of the operators is alive when we clear the place." She then turned to Roserade, a green bipedal Grass/Poison-type Pokémon with red and blue rose petals for hands, and told it, "Roserade, you'll be leading the charge. We'll need your Sleep Powder to disable one of the operators inside without killing him. Garchomp will go in and be the primary clearing force for those we don't need alive." She then turned to Spiritomb, and asked, "Before we go, though, what did you find in there Spiritomb?"

Images of the interior of the security center then flashed through Cynthia's mind as if they were photo stills as Spiritomb relayed the information it had gathered to its Trainer. She saw the presence of several Team Rocket Grunts as well as a couple Agents along with the new Team Rocket Chief of Security. They also had some Legendary Pokémon but they were keeping their minds guarded against revealing them and Spiritomb was unable to get a clear image of what Legendaries were being used by Team Rocket. Still, it had managed to get the access codes to the door, which it quickly relayed to Cynthia: one, zero, fifty-three, forty, and thirty-four.

Cynthia immediately input the code and stood back. After putting in the code, the doors began to slide open. The woman and her Pokémon stepped back so that they would remain invisible to the Rockets as they launched their attack and looked back at her Pokémon team and Lance, letting them know that it was about to get real. Glancing over to Roserade and Garchomp, she gave a nod, which was the signal to attack.

Just then, the group stormed into the security center. Roserade immediately began the assault by firing a cloud of Sleep Powder into the room. The cloud caught several Rockets off guard and rendered them unconscious before they could even draw their weapons or deploy their Pokémon. A few others, however, had been more alert and the moment the two Champions appeared, they sprang into action. One guard rose, raising his gun and drawing a bead on the blond haired woman. He did not care that the intruder was the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia, one of two Trainers that had ever given a challenge to Leaf, the living incarnation of Team Rocket's worst nightmare. To him, she was merely an enemy and intruder that had to be dealt with. He went to fire on her but Cynthia beat him to the punch and fired a single shot from a Ray Gun that Spiritomb had managed to telekinetically rocket into her hand, the energy beam striking him in the chest and felling the Rocket instantly. A second Rocket had drawn a bead on her, only to be taken down by a shot from Lance, who had managed to acquire a Ray Gun of his own. Garchomp dealt with two Rocket grunts that had attempted to draw their Ray Guns on him with a barrage of Stone Edge, skewering the Rockets in the process. A third unfortunate Rocket was taken down when Garchomp rocketed into the air and simply landed on him, crushing his back, and then slashing at his body for good measure.

Soon, the Chief of Security rose from his station and unclipped his five Poké Balls from his belt, tossing them into the air mere moments later. The balls opened and out came five glowing blue blobs of energy that formed into Heatran, a Pokémon that looked to be a cross between a tortoise and a ram with a reddish brown body, gray head and underside, and gray bangles locked on its legs; Shaymin, a hedgehog-like Pokémon with a pure white body with green grass growing out of its back along with pink flowers, and three large golem-like Pokémon that both Lance and Cynthia recognized as the Regi Trio, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, each one looking like the element that their name represented. The Security Chief also had a pink flower on him, which he then placed onto the Shaymin. "Looks like we'll be giving the Badge Amplifier an early workout after all," he said as he watched Shaymin glow and transform from a hedgehog-like Pokémon to a small, reindeer-like Pokémon with a mostly white body but green and white legs, which were longer and more pronounced. It also had white, wing-like ears as well, which allowed it to fly. Shaymin immediately took flight and began to target Cynthia's Pokémon, viewing them as the greatest threat zeroing in on Garchomp first. "Shaymin, use Seed Flare on Garchomp!" the Security Chief cried.

Shaymin targeted the bipedal shark-like Pokémon and began to glow in preparation of launching the attack. Before it could launch the attack, though, Lucario and Glaceon targeted the Pokémon with Dark Pulse and Ice Beam respectively. Both attacks scored direct hits on Shaymin, Ice Beam striking first, with Dark Pulse hitting second. The sheet of ice formed by Ice Beam engulfed Shaymin and forced it back, causing it to cry out in pain, with Dark Pulse scoring a direct hit as well, piercing the ice sheet and striking Shaymin, forcing it back even further. Despite taking two super effective attacks, though, Shaymin was still able to get its attack off. An explosion of green light was unleashed at both Pokémon. Roserade and Togekiss rushed in front of Garchomp and Lucario to protect their comrade from the attack. They took the full brunt of the attack and despite their resistance to the attack, still suffered significant damage. Had either of them taken the full hit, they may have fainted. However, neither Roserade nor Togekiss would be taken down so easily from an attack that they had a type advantage against. They quickly recovered with Togekiss launching an Air Slash at Shaymin, with Glaceon joining in with Ice Beam. Both attacks hit the Grass/Flying-type Pokémon, with Ice Beam hitting second. This time, the Ice Beam managed to freeze Shaymin solid. Once Shaymin was frozen, Togekiss could take its time in finishing off the Legendary Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Garchomp and Spiritomb were dealing with Heatran. The Security Chief began the battle by ordering, "Heatran use Fire Spin on that Spiritomb!"

Heatran nodded and complied with the order, powering the Fire-type attack. It then unleashed a vicious, spinning stream of flame at Garchomp. However, the attack was difficult to aim and Garchomp used her agility to avoid the attack. That left Heatran open to an Earthquake from Garchomp. Spiritomb, not wanting to get caught in the attack, itself, floated into the air while Garchomp dealt with Heatran. Garchomp stomped the ground and the ground began to tremble and shake violently. Spiritomb was safe as could be in the air and the other Pokémon of Lance and Cynthia's teams were far enough away to not suffer damage from the Earthquake. That was more than could be said for Heatran who was really suffering from the Earthquake due to its Fire and Steel-typing, along with Regirock and Registeel, who due to their Rock and Steel-typing, respectively, also sustained super effective damage and were close to the Earthquake. Still, despite sustaining an attack that had a quadruple type advantage against it, the Fire/Steel-type Pokémon was still able to battle, as were the two golems. That would not last long, though, for Garchomp and Spiritomb were quickly joined by Lance's Gyarados, who unleashed a massive Waterfall on Heatran. The water-type attack was enough to do in Heatran and it promptly fell to the floor, unconscious. Next, Lance and Cynthia's Pokémon turned their attention towards the Regi Golems.

The Rocket Security Chief was in complete shock as Heatran was defeated. Turning to Shaymin, he saw that Glaceon had just finished dealing with it, too, taking it down with an Ice Beam. That only left the Regi golems. Regirock, who had suffered significant damage from Garchomp and Togekiss's Earthquake and Aura Sphere attacks, charged towards the two Pokémon, preparing to use Stone Edge on Togekiss in order to finish off the Normal/Flying-type. Things did not go as planned, though, since Garchomp quickly stood in front of Togekiss and intercepted the attack, suffering only moderate damage from the Legendary's attack. Garchomp then finished off the golem with an Earthquake of its own. The attack was more than powerful enough to take down Regirock, along with Registeel, who had not even been able to get off its Flash Cannon before being taken down. The golems quickly fell, leaving only Regice to go against the rest of Lance and Cynthia's team. Wanting to take down Regice quickly and with minimal chance of taking damage, Roserade quickly loosed a cloud of Sleep Powder on the remaining Legendary Golem. The cloud fell upon the Pokémon, despite its best effort to take down Roserade before he could unleash the cloud, a task made difficult by Spiritomb using Psychic to lift Roserade and allow her to maneuver away from Regice's Ice Beam. This allowed the cloud to land on Regice and put it to sleep, not that it would have been all that necessary since Togekiss launched an Aura Sphere at the remaining Regi Golem while Lucario engaged it using Close Combat. The energy sphere scored a direct hit on the center of mass with Regice, knocking it back, with Lucario quickly appearing in front of it and unleashing a vicious volley of punches and kicks. Those attacks, along with the damage it had suffered earlier from the Earthquakes, were sufficient to take down the Legendary Pokémon. It fell to the floor with a thud that shook the room and lay there with swirls in its eyes, showing that it had fainted.

Things were quickly going from bad to worse for the Rocket Chief of Security. Glaceon soon turned to face the Rocket as the Rocket Security Chief went for his side arm. Before he could draw his Ray Gun, though, Glaceon let loose with a single Ice Beam. The forking beam of freezing energy scored a direct hit on the Rocket Security Chief and a sheet of ice formed over his chest. The sheet of ice rapidly expanded until it encompassed his entire body. As he was being dealt with, the rest of the Lance and Cynthia's Pokémon finished off the few remaining security personnel and Pokémon that were stationed in the center. Within seconds, the remaining security personnel and the few Pokémon they had fighting for them were defeated and left on the ground either unconscious or dead.

Once the battle was over, Cynthia went over to the Rocket Chief of Security and took his Poké Balls. Pushing a single button on them, she released the now fainted Heatran and Shaymin from their captivity. She also did the same for the Regi Golems. When that was finished she went over to the primary control console and studied it. She was shocked at how everything was labeled, making it far easier for anyone to be able to use the computer than it should have been. She glanced over to Spiritomb questioningly. _Could this actually be as easy as it looks_? she wondered. Lance also came over to check on the computer and his expression echoed Cynthia's surprise. Spiritomb's nod told her everything she needed to know. Still, the Pokémon transferred the knowledge to operate the machine to her mind, which she did not object to at all.

She then input a series of commands to place all sectors on the screen. Soon, the large screen in the center of the wall lit up with a large number of images from all over the base. Many of them showed the positions of the few remaining Rocket grunts and officers in the base. An image in the lobby showed the fallen forms of the Rockets and Pokémon that they had faced when they had enter the base. Checking out another part of the base, they saw Ash, Mewtwo, and their friends headed towards Giovanni's location. Several fallen Rockets lined the corridors, all signs showing that the children and Mewtwo had caught the Rockets completely off guard.

They then focused on gaining hold of the files in the computer. Lance and Cynthia input a series of commands, a task made painfully easy by Team Rocket labeling everything almost as if it had never occurred to them that the security center might have ever been taken. They took a look at all of the files that pertained to Team Rocket's plans. Sure enough, there were recordings and transmissions indicating the whole plan of attack for Team Rocket. When they looked over them, their faces became ashen and their eyes went wide with shock and concern. They had known that Team Rocket was planning on taking control of the Pokémon in Japan; they just did not suspect that Team Rocket's plan actually had a good chance of success. According to the information here, though, Team Rocket's plan had an excellent chance of success. Not only that, but Team Rocket's plan included using their new Pokémon to take control of the United Earth's leadership, or even the Galactic Federation leadership since they could use the Psychic-type Pokémon to mind-control the Federation leaders into doing whatever they wanted. This plan had to be stopped, no matter the cost. And to make matters even worse, Team Rocket was already on its way to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Still, there was a chance to stop the plan in its tracks. If the Badge Amplifier could be destroyed, then there would be no way for Team Rocket to control so many Pokémon. It was clear what they had to do now.

First, Lance rushed over to a panel away from the main computer and pushed a button. The panel retracted and a series of unused datapads were revealed. He quickly pulled out one of the pads and activated it. He then rushed back over to the main console and plugged the pad in.

"What are you doing?" Cynthia asked the Johto Champion.

"Downloading Team Rocket's plans," Lance answered. "We need to have evidence of this when we present it to the rest of the Pokémon World, or even to United Earth or the Galactic Federation if necessary."

Seeing the wisdom of his decision, she assisted him by pulling up all of the files so they could be downloaded onto the datapad. Inputting another series of commands, Lance put up a map of the base, pointing the way from the security control room to the location. Once that was complete, she went over to get another datapad and plug it into the main computer. She then downloaded the map to the datapad and disconnected it from the computer. Once that was complete, she went and did a data search for the code that would be used by Team Rocket. She wanted all traces of it to be destroyed, even though it was also being taken to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. It was her hope, though, that she could alert Mewtwo to what was going on and that he could intercept the attack force and destroy them before they could get anywhere with the code.

Seeing that the code had been stored in the base's main memory, which was located in the security control center, she decided that the best way to destroy the main repository for the code was to delete the main computer and then outright destroy it. Before doing that, though, she needed to contact Ash and his friends to let them know of the situation.

She input a series of commands and the map of the base disappeared. She input Ash's phone number and waited as she heard a ringtone at the other end of the line. Soon, Ash's voice sounded as she answered, "Can it wait? We're a little busy right now."

"Not really," Cynthia answered. "I'm at the security control center inside of Team Rocket's base. We've got a clear vision on what Team Rocket's plans are."

"We know, take over the country's Trainer owned Pokémon so they can take over the world," Ash answered.

"Yes, but we know exactly _how_ they're going to go about doing this," Cynthia began, getting Ash's attention.

"How?"

"They're sending an assault force to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower so they can transmit a code to every PC in the country. Whenever a Trainer uses the computer to transport a Pokémon to a lab or to a PC Box, it will, instead, transport the Pokémon to Team Rocket, who will use a Badge Amplifier to amplify the effects of Gym Leader Badges, allowing Team Rocket to control all Trainer owned Pokémon in the country."

"Where is the assault force now?" Ash asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"They're already en route to Goldenrod City's Radio Tower," Cynthia answered. "However, we've still got a chance. I'll wipe the main computer here so the code here will be destroyed. However, we're pretty far away from the actual Badge Amplifier, so we'll need you guys to destroy it. We'll try to get to you, but Team Rocket may have security forces trying to keep us occupied."

"Don't worry. We'll get it."

"Okay then. I'm sending the data to you now."

There was a click and a map soon appeared on Ash's Poké Gear watch that would direct him to the Badge Amplifier's location. "Got it," Ash told the Sinnoh League Champion.

"We'll do our best down here and then come up to reach you and help you out against the rest of Team Rocket," Cynthia told him. "Good luck."

"And to you, too," Ash echoed. With that, he hung up the phone.

"What is it?" Dawn asked, siding up next to Ash.

"Team Rocket's makin' their move," Ash answered. "They're gonna try to take over every Pokémon in Japan so they can use them to control the world's leadership."

"As well as the Galactic Federation's," Mewtwo added.

"Well, Lance and Cynthia have isolated the location of the machine that Team Rocket needs in order to do this. We're gonna go and destroy it. If we do that, their plans fall apart."

"Then what are we waiting for?" May blurted. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" the others cried. With that, the group made their way towards a stairwell and followed the map to the Badge Amplifier.

Meanwhile, back inside the security center, Lance and Cynthia cut the line between the center and Ash. All that needed to be done now was to shut down the main computer and erase it. Without it, Team Rocket would be blind, deaf, and unable to coordinate the defenses of the base, along with the only other repository of the code to transfer all Trainer owned Pokémon in Japan to Team Rocket. She scanned the computer and found the off switch in a very conspicuous position. Looking over at Spiritomb, projected the question of whether or not it was actually as easy to shut off the computer as it seemed. Surprisingly, Spiritomb indicated through a series of telepathic images that it _was_ as easy as it seemed. She then pushed the off switch and the computer screens and consoles went dark, the faint hum of the computers lowering in pitch before going completely silent. Once the computer was shut down, both Lance and Cynthia checked their datapads. The map of the base appeared on her pad, along with all of the important areas. She quickly found them and focused on the path to the chamber that held the Badge Amplifier. Lance checked his datapad and saw that all of the evidence they needed to incriminate not only Team Rocket but the Pokémon League was also on the pad. Right now, though, they needed to get to the Badge Amplifier to assist the others so that Ash could fight Giovanni while Mewtwo dealt with the Team Rocket assault force over at Goldenrod City.

Before leaving, though, the duo scoured the room for any weapons or tools that might help her on their quest. In one alcove, Cynthia found a bazooka-like weapon that strongly resembled a Super Nintendo Super Scope. She was surprised at the sight of the weapon, for while she had heard of such weapons before, they were not in widespread use by the Galactic Federation, but were still powerful enough to be restricted. She began to wonder how Team Rocket had managed to get a hold of such a weapon. Thinking nothing more of it, she grabbed the bazooka-like weapon and slung it over her shoulder. She also found a few orange spheres that were encased in some form of adhesive. She figured that they were either grenades or bombs of some sort. She took them, too, just in case she needed extra firepower. Lance also scoured the armory for weaponry, taking a Super Scope, a Ray Gun, as well as a Steel Diver, a gun shaped like a submarine that fired explosive projectiles, along with a few Motion Sensor Bombs.

Once they had gotten their weaponry, they gathered of their Pokémon and told them, "Follow me everyone. We're not done in this base yet. We have to stop the rest of Team Rocket from escaping before it's too late."

The duo then exited the room and led the way down the corridor, followed by their Pokémon friends. They then followed the map on Cynthia's datapad as she went to take the shortest route to the chamber that held the Badge Amplifier, hoping rendezvous with Ash and the others at the room, and hopefully destroy the machine before Team Rocket could use it.

Meanwhile, inside of Goldenrod City, the helicopter carrying the Team Rocket assault force made its way towards the Radio Tower. As soon as they had entered Goldenrod City, the pilot turned on the comm and spoke into it, informing the assault force, "We've just entered Goldenrod City. Touchdown will be in five minutes. Everyone get ready."

That was the cue for the Rocket assault force to check their weapons and Poké Balls. They checked their weapons' settings and made certain that they were fully loaded. They also made certain that they had all of the grenades that they would need for the mission. The last thing they wanted was to be stuck without an essential weapon.

Gideon looked around at the Rocket Grunts and Agents and saw that they seemed to function much like a military or paramilitary force, rather than a group of outlaws. He then noticed that they were now staring at him. He was puzzled as to why they were staring at him until he realized that he had to make his own final checks, for if something was wrong with the code or the delivery system, they would either have to fix it on the fly or scrub the mission entirely. He took out his datapad checked it, performing several diagnostics on it and performing a series of tests on it to make sure that it would work. Fortunately, everything was functioning within normal parameters.

"I'm good to go," he told the other Rockets.

The Rockets nodded and sat back in their seats, waiting for the all clear.

Eventually, one Rocket got out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, whose eyes glowed as soon as it emerged from its Poké Ball. It then turned and stared at its Trainer.

"Kadabra, we're approaching the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Once we're within range, scan the building so we can see just how much security this place has," the Rocket commanded. His command concerned Gideon.

"I thought we already went over that?" the scientist said in a concerned tone.

"We've done simulations of this but there are still questions as to the security of the Radio Tower, itself," the Rocket answered. "The Galactic Federation Civil War and the invasion of Earth changed a lot of things. Remember, the New York City Radio Tower, a Radio Tower that was larger than this one and had an army protecting it, was taken over in the invasion. Chances are that Earth has beefed up security over other sensitive locations as well. And don't think that the Pokémon World hasn't done the same with its own sensitive locations."

"But I thought we controlled the Pokémon World."

"We're in control of the League, not the world," the Grunt answered. "And even then, our command over it is tenuous at best. We've gotta do this before the Gym Leaders realize that somethin's wrong with the Pokémon League and launch a concerted effort against the Pokémon League."

Gideon nodded but remained curious as to why they were being so cautious. He had already mapped the Goldenrod City Radio Tower and knew exactly where his destination was. All they had to do was disable security, something that should not have been too difficult given the load outs of the assault force. They could easily storm the building, kill anyone in their way, and then get to the transmission station at a leisurely pace. Gideon then noticed the Kadabra looking at him and shaking its head. It then looked back at the Rocket and its eyes flashed.

"Yeah, you said it," the Grunt commented nonchalantly.

"What did it say?" Gideon asked.

"It said that your ideas are short-sighted," the Grunt answered. "Even though we could storm into the Radio Tower and kill everyone there relatively quickly, we'd never be able to do it without someone alerting the police or even the military as to what was going on. We'd then be besieged by a ton of cops and/or soldiers and none of us would get out alive. We have to neutralize their security personnel all in one fell swoop. To do that in the most efficient way possible, we need to know their stations and locations. If they aren't wearing any NBC gear or have any gasmasks, we may be able to take them all out in one fell swoop. That's why we've brought along a few Parasects. They can use Spore to fill their ventilation system and put everyone inside the building to sleep. _Then_ we can raid the building at our leisure."

"I see," Gideon answered, nodding. He was learning a lot about how the Tactical Grunts and Agents worked. Still, he would rather have everyone inside completely neutralized so that they would not worry about anyone waking up.

As the helicopter approached the tower, the intercom crackled to life as the pilot informed the rest of the passengers, "We're approaching the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Touch down will be in a couple of minutes, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

That was Kadabra's cue to get to work. "It's your time to shine Kadabra," the Rocket Grunt told the Psychic-type Pokémon.

The Psychic-type Pokémon nodded and then sat down on the ground, and assumed a meditative position. Once it did so, its eyes then began to glow. The Pokémon then scanned the entire tower, doing its best to identify security personnel, their stations, as well as anything special about the ventilation system, for it knew the preferred plan of attack by the assault force.

After a few seconds, the Pokémon sat up and then glanced over at the Rocket, its eyes flashing. In that flash, all of the information that the Pokémon had gleaned from its scan was transferred to the Rocket assault force. Each member of the assault force knew the entire layout of the tower, as well as the locations of its security personnel, their level of training, as well as their load out and any Pokémon that may have been with them. Surprisingly, the security at the Radio Tower did not have many Pokémon with them. Chances were that Team Rocket forces inside the Pokémon League must have convinced the workers at the Radio Tower to cut back on their Pokémon forces. Either way, it appeared as if this was going to be a little easier than expected.

Once the information was transferred to the Rockets, the first part of the assault began to get underway. Four Rocket Grunts immediately deployed their Parasects along with four Abras. They then took out some datapads that had the complete layout of the Goldenrod Radio Tower and highlighted four areas, each Rocket highlighting a distinct area. These were labeled as air service ducts that connected to the tower's ventilation system.

"Abra, take us to these locations at once," each Rocket Grunt commanded their Abra, pointing out the location that each Abra was to take their Trainer. "Also, once inside, disable all filtration systems inside the tower. We need to be able to have the Spore cloud spread throughout the entire tower."

The Abras nodded but Gideon was beginning to grow concerned. "Wait," he blurted. "What are the rest of us to do once we get inside? We'll be affected by the Spore cloud, too!"

"That's what the gasmasks are for," a second Grunt said, pulling out a gasmask as well as buttoning up his clothing. "We also packed some NBC gear too, just in case a gasmask wouldn't be enough. Don't worry, Gideon, we packed a suit for you, too," the Grunt finished almost patronizingly.

That put the scientist more at ease as he nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright Team One, are you ready?" came the voice of the pilot over the comm.

"We are," came the response.

"Roger that," the pilot stated. "Good luck."

With that, the Grunts of Team One vanished from the helicopter, along with their Parasects and Abras. That left Gideon alone with the rest of the Rocket assault force, waiting for the all clear from Team One.

"Alright everyone, get your suits on," came one of the Rocket Agents, who was already dressed in his NBC suit. This suit more closely resembled light powered armor than most standard nuclear, biological, chemical suits worn by those who worked in toxic atmospheres.

The Rockets did as the Agent directed, putting on their suits. One of the Rockets tossed Gideon a suit and gruffly told him, "Put it on smart guy. You're needed to input the code so we can take control of all the country's captured Pokémon."

The scientist struggled to put on the suit as he attempted to fit inside of it. It was sized a little too big for him, seemingly designed for use by the more muscular or rotund Rocket soldiers that were already dressed. The suit was gray and had a red R on its torso. It also included a helmet with faceplate that had atmospheric filters on it, allowing him to breathe in toxic atmospheres.

"Make sure your suits are all buttoned up tight," the Rocket Agent bellowed. "You don't wanna get put to sleep by the Spore cloud once we infiltrate the building, do you?"

"No sir," the other Rockets stated, some of them chuckling as they checked their suits. Once they were ready, they simply sat down in their chairs, gripping their weapons and/or Poké Balls, waiting for the signal from Team One.

Over in one of the air vents, one of the Rocket Grunts and his Parasect and Abra appeared next to the vent. A clap sounded as the trio appeared near the vent. Once they appeared near the vent, the Rocket Grunt looked to each side to see if there was anyone in the vicinity. When he found no one, he looked down at the Abra and told it, "Abra, scan the area. Make sure that there's no one around here. We can't afford for anyone to detect us during the mission."

"Abra," the Pokémon answered without moving. The Rocket then waited for a moment while Abra scanned the area using Psychic. After a few moments, the Abra looked back at the Rocket and gave a telepathic 'all clear' signal.

"Good work Abra," the Rocket told the Pokémon. "Keep watch."

The Pokémon nodded and the Rocket then went over to the ventilation shaft. He then turned to Parasect and told it, "It's time. Come over here now and use Spore on this vent. Keep pumping Spore into it until you run dry."

"Parasect," the bug-like Pokémon answered, nodding.

Parasect then approached the shaft and once it was within range, it let loose with a massive Spore cloud. The Rocket Grunt and Abra backed away from the Bug/Grass-type Pokémon, not wanting any of the spores to make contact with them and risk putting them to sleep, too. This was not a problem for Parasect since it was not only its own technique, but it was also part Grass-type and as such, it was immune to powder and spore techniques.

The Spore cloud traveled into the shaft and was immediately distributed through the air vents and ducts. While the Spore cloud was being propelled into the vent, Abra went to work shutting down any filtration system that would have filtered out the Spore cloud and protected the tower's occupants. Once everything was finished, the Rocket simply waited and hoped that the rest of the team managed to pump their Spore clouds into the ventilation systems and shut down any filtration systems in the tower. That would make the raid a whole lot easier.

Sure enough, all around the Radio Tower, the rest of Team One was hard at work making certain to pump the tower full of the Parasects' Spore cloud so they could enter the tower at their own leisure. Each Rocket made certain that there were no security forces patrolling the exterior of the tower as they pumped the Spore cloud into the tower. They also made certain that they pumped in the cloud at the exact same time so that the people inside the tower would not know what was happening until it was too late.

Inside the tower, everyone was busy at work, just as they would be any other day of the week. Radio programs were underway and other technicians were hard at work making sure that everything functioned smoothly. Security personnel were making their rounds to keep out any potential miscreants. Some of them had a feeling that something was about to happen but they just did not know what exactly it was. One thing that no one had expected was a Spore cloud to emerge from the ventilation system. As such, when the Spore cloud started emerging from the vents, no one knew what was happening until the spores made contact with their skin or they breathed in the spores and immediately fell asleep at their stations. Everyone else in the hallways managed to lay down on the ground before completely falling asleep. Soon, everyone inside the Radio Tower was asleep, and defenseless before the assault that was about to occur.

On the exterior of the Radio Tower, the Rockets waited while the Parasects pumped as much Spore as they could into the vents. Once they were finished they retreated from the vents, indicating that their part of the mission was over.

Once the Parasect retreated, the Rocket Grunt turned to Abra and told it, "Scan the interior of the tower to make sure that everyone's asleep. If they're asleep, tell Team Two that they're a go."

Abra nodded and quickly scanned the interior of the Radio Tower. Extending its telepathic senses into the tower, it managed to glean that everyone inside the tower was asleep. In addition, there was no one outside the tower besides the Rockets and their Pokémon, meaning that the tower was ripe for the taking. Turning back to the Grunt, the Abra nodded, indicating that everything was a go. The Rocket Grunt grinned and soon took out a small radio and activated it.

"This is Rocket Alpha of Team One. The baby is asleep. I repeat, the baby is asleep. You're good to go," the Rocket spoke into the radio.

"Excellent," came the pilot's voice over the radio. "Return to the helicopter at once. We'll need you guys for backup in case something unforeseen occurs."

"Roger that," the Rocket Grunt answered. He then took out a Poké Ball and returned Parasect to the Poké Ball, the red beam striking the Pokémon, turning it into a red blob of energy before drawing the energy back into the ball. Once the Pokémon had been returned, the Grunt turned to Abra and told it, "Take us back to the chopper."

The Abra nodded and with a flash of its eyes, the Abra and Rocket Grunt vanished from the tower.

The duo reappeared back on the helicopter, immediately being rejoined by the rest of Team One. "Mission accomplished," the leader of Team One reported.

"Not yet," the Rocket Agent in charge of the mission countered. "Part one is complete. The mission isn't accomplished until we transmit this code to every PC in Japan and take control of every Trainer owned Pokémon."

The Agent then went over to a comm line and pushed a button. Once he did that, he bellowed, "Phase one is complete. Take us down to the tower."

"Understood," came the response from the pilot.

Gideon took a deep breath as the helicopter began its descent. They needed to find a safe landing area close to the Radio Tower. While some of the Rockets had wanted to teleport into the tower, the leader of the assault had decided against it on the off chance that there were teleportation inhibitors inside the tower as a security measure against criminals that may have had Psychic-type Pokémon. As such, it was decided that they would take the longer, but safer, way to the transmission station.

After less than a minute, the helicopter shuddered as everyone heard, and felt, a small thud inside, indicating that the helicopter had touched down. "We've landed safely close to the tower," the pilot stated over the comm line. "It's your show now."

Gideon took a deep breath as he put on the helmet and snapped it in place. The rest of the Rockets made one last check of their weapons and the Pokémon that they would take with them. They then gripped their weapons as the rear boarding ramp opened.

As soon as it had extended fully, the Rocket Agent in charge bellowed, "This is it. Everyone move out!"

Then, as one, every Rocket filed out of the helicopter, keeping their rifles trained forward on the chance that there was unexpected security forces that they would have to deal with. Gideon brought up the rear, being escorted by two Rocket Grunts whose mission was to make certain that he reached the transmitter alive and unharmed. Once the Rockets were outside the helicopter, they turned towards the Radio Tower and began their assault.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

Back at Pokémon League Headquarters, Ash and friends made their way up the steps towards the next floor, hoping to reach the Badge Amplifier and destroy it, hopefully stopping Team Rocket's plans in the process. As they made their way up the stairs, they encountered two Grunts, each of who were taken down with contemptuous ease by a Thunderbolt from Pikachu. Making their way past the fallen Rockets, Ash and company followed the map of the base on their Poké Gear, PokéNav, and Pokétch.

When they came to the third floor, Ash stopped at the door, holding up his hand to signal the others to stop, and peered through the glass window to see if there were any sentries. Seeing none, he shoved the door open and stood aside to allow May, Dawn, and their Pokémon to pass. Once they were through, he and his own Pokémon followed them through.

True to the initial scan, the corridor was completely barren, the only sign of trouble being the blinking red light bar indicating an intruder inside the base. The light soon stopped flashing, indicating that Cynthia and Lance had disabled the security systems. However, Ash had a feeling that Giovanni knew that something was up and that there would be trouble.

Sure enough, inside his office, Giovanni was sitting at his desk, reading the reports that were streaming to his computer from the few remaining Rockets inside the headquarters. He did not have the same number of forces that he had back at Team Rocket Headquarters with many of the Rockets having been killed in the base's invasion and subsequent destruction. Added to the fact that more Rockets had either died or been captured at the Celadon City Game Corner, his forces were thin at the base. He still had some elite Grunts and Agents, but many of them were in the security center, which reports were indicating had just been breached. He soon heard a voice chime in over the comm.

"Giovanni, sir, we're under attack!" the voice of a Rocket Grunt cried. Lance, Cynthia, Ash, and some others have entered the headquarters. We've already lost the security center."

Giovanni seethed. He had expected security to alert him sooner than this. He soon heard the voice of Delia, who was handcuffed to a bench in a corner of the room, laugh and taunt, "It looks like your plans are falling apart."

Giovanni turned to her and smirked. "It doesn't really matter what happens here," he told her. "All that matters is that the assault force in Goldenrod City manages to transmit a code to every computer in Japan."

"And what if this Badge Amplifier that you've mentioned is destroyed?" Delia challenged.

"It won't be," the Rocket Boss answered. "I've got my best Executives and defenders protecting it. If your son goes for that, it will be the last mistake he ever makes."

"I doubt that," Delia answered confidently.

"You shouldn't be so cocky Delia," Giovanni said, grinning. "You have no idea the defenses that I have in place in this building. Even with the losses we sustained in the invasion and subsequent issues, Team Rocket is still going strong, and is on the verge of having everything we need to take over the world."

"You're one to talk about being cocky," Delia retorted.

Giovanni merely grinned. "I'm the one who has a powerful surprise ally at my side," he answered. "You'll do well to sit back and relax, as well as resign yourself to the fact that you'll be with me for quite a long time."

"That is where you are wrong," Delia answered as she watched, knowing that Giovanni's arrogance would prove to be his downfall.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the base, Ash, May, Dawn, and their Pokémon surged through the corridor, following their maps to the Badge Amplifier. Just as was indicated by Ash's initial scan, there were no Rockets or Pokémon in the corridor, something that baffled Ash. He had expected Team Rocket to pull out all the stops in dealing with them, not pull back. Even if there was an assault going on elsewhere, there should have still been plenty of soldiers here. And if not Rockets, then Pokémon League soldiers and officials. That was unless Team Rocket had killed all of the Pokémon League officials in the building, something the boy would not have put past Team Rocket.

Following the map, as well as the corridor through a couple bends the group eventually came to the room that housed the Badge Amplifier. Here, there were several Rocket Grunts standing guard outside, their Koffings and Weezings already having been deployed. Mewtwo dealt with the Poison-type Pokémon with contemptuous ease with a single Psychic attack, blue fields of energy surrounding the Pokémon and squeezing them until they lost consciousness. While Mewtwo was dealing with the Pokémon, Pikachu fired a volley of Thunderbolts while Dawn's Pachirisu unleashed a blast of Discharge at the Rockets. The electrical attacks were more than sufficient to render the Rockets unconscious.

With the Rockets having been dealt with, Mewtwo took the lead and approached the door that lead to the Badge Amplifier. Extending his psychic senses into the room, he detected the presence of the four Rocket Executives. Looking back at the others, he made his report.

"There are four Rocket Executives inside that room. They're protecting the Badge Amplifier and they know that we're coming and are ready for us. If things go badly, they'll summon reinforcements."

"Then let's take 'em down before they can summon any reinforcements," Ash replied.

"Right," May and Dawn said in unison. The group's Pokémon also gave cries of encouragement and affirmation.

With that, the group burst through the door to face the Rocket Executives. The moment the door flew open, the four Executives calmly turned and faced Ash and his friends. When Ash saw them, he recognized the four of them as being the same Executives from his memory from when he had been kidnapped.

"So the one that got away comes back," Ash heard the leader, Archer, state plainly as he stepped forward, holding out two Poké Balls.

"You were there when Giovanni kidnapped Mia," Ash blurted, pointing his finger accusingly. Pikachu, recognizing that Ash knew the Rocket, or at least knew of him, stepped forward in front of Ash to support him, electricity amplified by the Light Ball crackling around his cheeks. He was eager for a battle.

"You think a Pikachu is going to frighten us?" Archer asked in disbelief.

"He isn't fighting alone," both May and Dawn declared as they stepped forward, Blaziken and Piplup stepping forward to join Ash.

Ash glanced past the Rocket Executives and saw the Badge Amplifier behind them. It was shaped like a refrigerator and had a number of flashing lights on it. Still, something seemed off about this machine, and he was not the only one to notice it.

"Something's wrong," Mewtwo said, focusing his gaze on the Badge Amplifier. "I'm sensing virtually no energy emanating from that machine. That thing looks like nothing more than a decoy."

He then proceeded to power an Aura Sphere and fire it at the machine. The sphere of energy streaked past the Rockets and struck the machine, plowing through its skin and exploding inside, blowing it apart. Shrapnel exploded forth and the Rockets dove for cover behind a series of benches and chairs. As the machine exploded, though, Mewtwo felt virtually no difference in the energy inside the room. Not only that, but for a split second, he felt a source of energy emanating from one level up.

"It's above us!" the Psychic-type Pokémon cried telepathically to Ash and the others.

The moment he made that cry, though, the sensation vanished from his mind, almost as if an armored blast door closed over the sensation. He had been detected, and he knew that there was only one being present who could block him.

"So he _is_ here," the cat-like Pokémon muttered.

"Ganondorf?" Ash asked.

Mewtwo nodded. "And something is blocking my ability to teleport to the Badge Amplifier safely," the Pokémon added.

Ash looked sternly at Archer and the others as they rose from their cover and took out their Poké Balls. Their balls then opened and revealed their Pokémon. For Archer, out came a Houndoom, Octillery, a red octopus-like Pokémon, a Wobbuffet, Hypno, Parasect, and a Tyranitar. The presence of the Rocket's Tyranitar got Mia's Tyranitar's blood boiling and the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon was very eager to face down his counterpart.

As for Ariana, she deployed a Vileplume, Arbok, Magcargo; a flaming red snail-like Pokémon with a lava-like body with a dark gray snail shell, a Kabutops, a Pokémon with a brown half-moon, disc-shaped head with scythes for hands, and long, thin brown legs. It also had a gray chest plate with a brown shell that resembled a backbone. Ash recognized the Kabutops and knew that Pikachu, Sceptile, and Venusaur would have an edge against it. Ariana's final two Pokémon consisted of a Victreebel, a Pokémon with a bell-shaped body with a gaping mouth on top of it with two green leaves on its sides; and a Crobat.

As for Petrel and Proton, they did not have such formidable teams. Petrel merely deployed five Koffings and a single Weezing while Proton only deployed a Crobat and a Weezing. Petrel merely shrugged as he deployed his Pokémon while Proton still looked confident despite the fact that their teams were facing off against a World Champion, two Grand Festival Champions as well as recently crowned Champions in their respective regions, and a Super Legendary Pokémon. Archer still had a grin as he gazed at Ash and the others as they deployed their teams.

"You have formidable teams, more than sufficient to defeat us if we were alone," he stated.

Ash and the others did not know what Archer meant at first, but Mewtwo took the initiative to scan the area and he soon discovered that a large number of Trainers were coming to meet them. Ash could already hear a number of claps, followed by the sound of footfalls coming from behind. Turning around, he saw no less than a dozen Trainers standing before him. They looked like they were Ace Trainers that were affiliated with the Pokémon League.

"Stay where you are and surrender now," the lead Ace Trainer, a man in his early twenties with short green hair, wearing a white shirt, red short-sleeved jacket and shorts, commanded. The female Ace Trainers standing alongside the males had hair of different colors and lengths, but their uniform was all the same. It consisted of a red and yellow short-sleeved jacket over a white shirt and a black miniskirt.

The Ace Trainers all looked at Ash and the others and quickly deployed their Pokémon. They deployed a wide variety of Pokémon but almost all of them consisted of at least the regional starters of the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Regions; Meganium, Feraligatr, Typhlosion, Blaziken, Sceptile, Swampert, Empoleon, Torterra, and Infernape. They also deployed Legendary Pokémon such as Shaymin, Heatran, and even the Eon Duo, Latios and Latias. Some even had members of the Legendary Beasts, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. May and Dawn's eyes went wide at the sight.

"Why?" they gasped. "You're Pokémon Trainers. Why are you fighting for Team Rocket?"

"We _are_ Team Rocket now," the lead Ace Trainer answered. "Team Rocket will be the key to training Pokémon from here on out. Giovanni's in charge of the Pokémon League and we're obligated to serve the League."

"Then you and your Pokémon allies will die as fools, betraying the very thing you claim to stand for," Mewtwo declared, his eyes beginning to glow.

"No, _you_ will die, freak," the Ace Trainer retorted. He then released his Pokémon, consisting of a Latios, Latias, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Salamence, and a Metagross, a turquoise robot-looking Pokémon with a disc-shaped body with four legs joined to the main body by ball-and-socket joints. "I don't know what sort of Pokémon you are, but I'm betting you can't beat six Pokémon all on your own."

That was the last statement that the Ace Trainer ever made, for Mewtwo instantly proved just how wrong he was when he unleashed a Psystrike on the Ace Trainer, annihilating him along with rendering his Dragonite, Salamence, and Metagross unconscious. He could feel the energy from the Badge Amplifier controlling the Pokémon so he did not use deadly force against them. The Ace Trainer's Tyranitar immediately attempted to charge Mewtwo, only to eat an Aura Sphere, the Fighting-type attack taking down the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon in a single hit. Mewtwo then unleashed a Blizzard attack on Latios and Latias, freezing the duo solid. As more of the Ace Trainers tried to close ranks, May and Dawn stepped forward, their Pokémon ready to fight, Mia's Tyranitar eagerly joining them.

"Ash, you and Mewtwo go and get to Giovanni now!" Dawn said.

Before Ash could give a response, the Ace Trainers attempted to attack the group, only to be sent flying in all directions by Mewtwo. The Trainers gave cries of surprise as they were sent flying into walls, chairs, and even each other. After they fell to the ground, some of them rose, albeit slowly. Still, they were dazed by the attack. Meanwhile, the Rocket Executives' Pokémon launched attacks of their own on Ash and his friends, only to be intercepted by the group's Pokémon, Charizard, Pikachu, and Blaziken taking the lead by unleashing two Fire Blasts and a Thunderbolt respectively. The Fire Blasts targeted the Executives' Vileplume and Victreebel, the two Fire-type attacks taking down the part Grass-type Pokémon in single hits. Pikachu's Thunderbolt was more than sufficient to take down Kabutops and Octillery, leaving a noticeable hole in the Executives' teams.

"Ash, go now! We'll hold them off," May cried, seeing an opening for Ash and his Pokémon to punch through so they could get to Giovanni and the Badge Amplifier.

"But there are so many of them," Ash began. "You'll never hold out against all of them."

"Just go and let us worry about that!" May roared. "Get to Giovanni and that Badge Amplifier. We'll buy you the time."

"But…"

"No buts," Mewtwo interjected, grabbing the boy and his Pokémon. "They're giving us a chance to get out of here intact."

"But you could take the others down."

"Maybe," Mewtwo stated plainly. "But there's no telling what other tricks or traps Giovanni will have waiting for us on the next floor. If Ganondorf is here, then he's probably working with Giovanni." Mewtwo then paused and looked down at the ground for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps I should leave and hopefully draw Ganondorf away. It's me he wants. He won't go after you if I leave."

"And what if Giovanni has the Lake Guardians or other Legendaries with him?" Ash retorted. "You were a godsend when you arrived in Indigo Village. Let's get Giovanni now. Then we can deal with this Ganondorf together."

"Right," Mewtwo answered, nodding.

The duo then surged forward through the ranks of fallen League Trainers and their Pokémon. Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, and Pikachu cleared the path, unleashing Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Energy Ball, and Thunderbolt respectively against the numerous Pokémon that were arraying themselves against them. A Blaziken and Infernape took direct hits from Blastoise's Hydro Pump and were sent flying backwards, drenched. They crashed into the wall and slid down it, falling to the ground and struggling to rise. Venusaur and Pikachu's Energy Ball and Thunderbolt converged on an Empoleon and managed to render it unconscious. All the while, Charizard took on a Sceptile and Torterra, using Air Slash to push back the agile Sceptile, the blades of wind colliding with the Grass-type Pokémon as it had powered a Leaf Blade and was charging towards Charizard. The blades knocked Sceptile off its feet and sent it flying. Charizard then swerved as he narrowly avoided a Solar Beam from Torterra, the beam continuing until it blasted through the metal wall and out the side of the building. Charizard retaliated with a Fire Blast, the blast of fire taking down Torterra with a single hit.

Once the path was clear, Mewtwo instantly teleported Ash through the hole, the group vanishing from the room and reappearing in the corridor. The group then disappeared again and reappeared a ways down the corridor, too far for the other League Trainers to go after while having to deal with May, Dawn, and their own Pokémon. Once Ash, his Pokémon, and Mewtwo were out of sight, May, Dawn, and even Mia's Tyranitar formed up with their Pokémon and stared down the four Team Rocket Executives along with the League Trainers that were still standing, and those that were beginning to rise once more. The two girls looked out at the odds that they faced and they almost chuckled.

"Well, here goes," Dawn quipped as she then stood tall and cried, "Everyone, pick your targets, remember your training, and go!"

"Everyone go!" May cried, echoing Dawn's order. "Blaziken and Venusaur, lead the way!"

With those declarations, May and Dawn's Pokémon teams surged forward, Venusaur starting off with a cloud of Sleep Powder, hoping to catch the enemy Pokémon off guard. The forward lines of Pokémon were, indeed, caught off guard and put to sleep by the cloud of Sleep Powder. That left the back ranks open to Flamethrower attacks from Blaziken and Typhlosion while Pachirisu unleashed a Discharge to add to the Flamethrower attacks from the other Pokémon. The attacks took down several more Pokémon, most of them were common Pokémon like Raticate or Pidgeot, but one of the Pokémon that fell was an enemy Snorlax. Still, May and Dawn knew that this was going to be an uphill battle. And that was being made evidently clear as the Team Rocket Executives joined in on the attack.

Meanwhile, Ash was rushing down the corridor to reach the next stairwell before any of the League Trainers that may have been behind him could catch up. He found the door to the stairwell not too far away being guarded by two Rocket Grunts. Pikachu dealt with the Grunts using Thunderbolt, rendering them unconscious before they could either go for their weapons or let out their Pokémon.

Once the group reached the stairwell, Ash was about to rush through the door when Mewtwo telekinetically drew him back, yelling, "Wait!"

Ash did not know why Mewtwo was holding him back until Mewtwo stepped forward and extended his own psychic senses. Sure enough, the stairwell was laced with traps. "There are traps up ahead," Mewtwo told the boy.

"What do we do?"

Mewtwo extended his psychic senses and while he could easily identify the traps, he could not get a clear reading on the floor above, indicating that he was still being blocked. "There are still blocks in place so I can't safely teleport us up to the next floor. We'll have to take the long way up."

Ash nodded and let Mewtwo step forward and follow through with his plan. Despite the fact that the Psychic-type Pokémon was concerned that some of the traps may have been designed for him, he decided to spring the traps anyway, knowing that there would be no way Ash or his Pokémon friends could survive a trap meant for him. As such, he pushed the door open, only for it to explode in his face. His psychic shields, however, protected him from suffering any damage, the shrapnel bouncing off his shield and being redirected back into the stairwell, embedding themselves into the walls.

Mewtwo stepped into the stairwell and checked to see the structural integrity of the stairs. Sure enough, upon stepping on them, they gave way and collapsed. The cat-like Pokémon's telekinesis, however, allowed him to levitate a few feet above the collapsing stairwell. He then floated upwards, examining the wall. Sure enough, a trap that was designed to ensnare him soon activated as two machines on the wall fired beams of electricity at him. The beams made contact with his shields and arced over them, soon forming a force field over him. He had experienced this trap before on Mount Quena. This time, he was ready for it and he used his own Psychic abilities to push back against the machines' power. He quickly overpowered the machines and burst forth from the force field and shattered the machines.

Once he was certain that all of the traps had been sprung, and dealt with, he looked down at Ash and called, "All clear."

He then levitated Ash and his Pokémon team up the stairwell. Blue fields of energy surrounded Ash and the rest of his ground bound team as they were lifted up the stairwell. Charizard, meanwhile, flew up the stairwell, quickly making his way past Ash and the others, the Pokémon grinning as he did so, prompting Ash to mock scowl.

Once they safely landed on the landing above the collapsed steps, Mewtwo shoved the door open and stepped on through. Ash followed the bipedal cat-like Pokémon closely, followed by Charizard and Pikachu, with Venusaur, Blastoise, Snorlax, and Donphan bringing up the rear. Once they were in the next corridor, they stared down the corridor and saw the one thing that they both did not want to see and were actually thankful that they had seen: the Team Rocket Trio Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"Well, well, if it isn't the twerp and his Pikachu," Jessie commented.

"This time, it's different," James stated plainly, gripping two Poké Balls.

"Yeah, dis time, we're not after Pikachu," Meowth proclaimed.

"Our only job is to stop you!" all three cried in unison.

Ash and Mewtwo then chuckled. "I'd like to see you try," Ash challenged. And then, the two sides engaged in battle.

Meanwhile, in the Johto Region of Japan, the Team Rocket assault force made their way through the Goldenrod Radio Tower. The interior of the Radio Tower was lined with sleeping personnel, some of them workers, others broadcasters, and yet others being security officers. As the Rockets made their way past the personnel, some of them checked on the personnel to make sure that they were still unconscious. Some Rockets, however, pointed their rifles at the sleeping personnel and prepared to shoot them, only to be rebuked by the commander of the assault force.

"No killing right now," he ordered sternly, glaring at any Rocket that looked as if they were preparing to take a shot.

"Aw, how come?" one of the Rocket Grunts whined.

"Because the noise from the gunfire could awaken the security personnel that are sleeping," the Commander answered.

"Yeah, but we outgun them by a lot," came the voice of a younger male Rocket, this one sounding as if he were barely eighteen. "What's to stop us from killing them all now?"

"It doesn't matter how much we outgun them by if a firefight ends up damaging the transmitter or if anyone manages to alert the police and SWAT teams arrive before we can upload the virus," the Commander retorted. "You can kill as much as you want when the mission's over. Until that is done, try to restrain your bloodlust."

"Fine," the younger Rocket droned.

With the argument having ended, the assault force made their way towards the elevator that would take them to the top of the tower, Gideon bringing up the rear with his bodyguards. The first group fit into one of the elevators and took it up, forcing the rest of the force to wait for more elevators to arrive. Gideon looked around nervously at the unconscious security personnel, workers, and other people who had possibly just been taking a tour, sleeping on the ground. He carefully examined them and wondered just how long the Spore cloud would keep them asleep. He had heard stories of how Sleep Powder could put someone to sleep, but they could still awaken to a loud noise or something.

"Don't worry, Gideon," one of his bodyguards assured him. "They'll remain asleep for quite a while. Spore is more effective than Sleep Powder."

"But what about the noise we make? Won't that wake them up?"

"It shouldn't, but we're traveling quietly just to make certain that no one wakes up. There's a reason why the commander doesn't want any of the troops killing sleeping personnel."

Gideon nodded as the group waited for the final elevator to arrive so that they could go up to the transmitter, which was located on the tower's observation deck on the top floor. Eventually, an elevator arrived for the trio and the doors opened before them. Wasting no time, the trio quickly boarded the elevator and allowed it to take them to the observation deck.

Meanwhile, on the observation deck, there was a ding as the doors to the first elevator opened, revealing the first team of the Team Rocket assault force. When the doors opened, the Rockets flooded onto the observation deck, making certain to clear it, hoping that the Spore cloud had managed to put the people on the deck to sleep, too. Fortunately, it had and everyone on the deck was unconscious, save for the Rockets. Standing in front of them was a large high-definition screen that was connected to a large computer. This was their goal. The Rocket commander grinned at the sight.

The Rocket Commander then turned to his underlings and told them, "Everyone, let out your Abras and Kadabras at once."

The Rockets did as they were instructed and out came almost a dozen Abras and Kadabras. "Now, order the Abras and Kadabras to remove everyone on this deck from the building. Have them put inside the basement level and lock it. Also have them do the same for everyone else in the building, too."

"But sir, won't that risk waking them up?" one of the Rockets asked.

"I don't know how long they'll remain asleep for anyway," the Commander retorted. "If Gideon doesn't get his butt up here quickly, we could risk facing down a security threat, something we went to great pains to avoid. Now tell the Pokémon to do as I say."

"Understood, sir," came the response from the Grunt.

The Grunts then turned to their Abras and Kadabras and relayed their commander's orders to the Psychic-type Pokémon. The Pokémon looked at them questioningly, but the Grunts retorted, "Don't ask questions, just do it. We're on a time crunch here and we want them as far away from the transmitter as possible."

The Pokémon then nodded and went about their task of transporting all of the sleeping workers, broadcasters, and security personnel off of the observation deck and into the basement level. As soon as they had vanished, the second set of elevator doors opened and the second team surged onto the observation deck.

"Clear," bellowed one of the Grunts, doing his best to imitate a policeman or a military soldier. Some of the Rockets gave small chuckles while the commander gazed at him sternly, not liking the fact that one of his Grunts had yelled and risked awakening someone, even though all of the sleeping personnel had been teleported off of the deck.

Eventually, the third set of elevator doors opened and out came Gideon, along with his two bodyguards.

"Finally," one of the Rocket Grunts heaved, drawing a stern glance from the Rocket Commander.

"We've cleared the area," the Rocket Commander informed the scientist. "It's your show now."

Gideon made his way over to the large high definition screen and looked it over. The scientist nodded and he quickly took off his backpack and placed it on the ground. He opened it and took out a small tablet and a series of cables.

The Rocket Commander looked down at him and asked, "How long will this take?"

"That depends on the cyber defenses of the Radio Tower," Gideon answered. "If its firewall is weak, the upload will only take a couple of minutes. If the firewall is strong, it could take significantly longer, maybe a half hour or so, depending on how strong the firewall is, even with the codes from the Pokémon League officials."

"And you're just telling us this now?" one of the Grunts asked, drawing a rebuke from the Commander, who raised his hand to cut him off.

"Teams One and Two are to take up positions throughout the Radio Tower," the Commander directed. "You're to make certain that the occupants remain asleep and that no unauthorized personnel enter the building. If anyone suspicious comes, inform us immediately. Team Three will remain here to cover Doctor Gideon while he uploads the code to the Radio Tower and transmits it to the computers all around Japan."

"Yes, sir," the Rockets answered.

The Commander then formed up in front of Team One and went over to the elevator, calling it so they could take up positions all throughout the building. Once Teams One and Two had departed, along with the Rocket Commander, Gideon went to work uploading the virus and making certain that the firewalls and other cyber defenses of the tower did not damage or erase the code.

Meanwhile, outside the Goldenrod Radio Tower, the pilot and copilot of the assault force's helicopter sat patiently in the cockpit, awaiting any word on the status of the operation. They had glanced at their scanners nervously as they waited for any word from the assault force. Eventually, the radio crackled and they heard their commander's voice.

"Agent Koji, report."

"Ah, yes sir," the pilot, Koji, stammered in reply.

He then checked his instruments and saw nothing. His copilot then reported, "I'm not seeing anything on scopes, either."

"We're all clear here," Koji reported.

"Good," the Rocket Commander stated gruffly. "If anything pops up report it immediately."

"Understood sir," Koji answered. He then paused and asked, "Is everything okay sir? Do you need us to do anything?"

"No," came the reply. "It's just that the upload may take a bit longer than initially expected. Stand by for further updates. Just be ready for our extraction."

"Understood sir," Koji answered. He then closed the channel and sat back in his seat, heaving a sigh.

"So, it looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while," came the voice of his copilot.

"Yeah," Koji sighed. "It's gonna be boring beyond belief. I mean, nothing's gonna happen here."

The moment he uttered those words, a beeping echoed throughout the cockpit, prompting both him and the copilot to shoot up and look over their consoles to see the source of the beeping. Pouring over their consoles, the copilot eventually noticed a flashing dot on the radar screen.

"Hey, look at that," he said, indicating the dot. "Something's popped up on radar."

Koji looked at the dot and saw that it was approaching fast. "I see it."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell," Koji answered, studying the object.

He pushed a few buttons and noticed that the shape seemed to resemble a Flying-type Pokémon. "It looks like a Flying-type Pokémon."

"We'd better report it," Koji said, immediately turning on the radio.

The moment he did so, though, a stream of flame lashed out from nowhere at the helicopter. The flame instantly burned its way through the metal hull and set the air inside on fire. Koji and the copilot did not even have a chance to scream before the flames ruptured the fuel tanks and ignited the fuel, causing the helicopter to explode. Fragments of superheated metal pelted the Radio Tower and everyone inside that was conscious knew that something bad had just happened.

Inside the Goldenrod Radio Tower, the Rockets assault force that had taken up their defensive positions all throughout the tower heard the explosion and felt the shaking of the tower. Immediately fearing the worst, one of the Rockets took out a hand radio and activated it, switching the channel to the helicopter's channel.

"Team One to Alpha Chopper, come in," he bellowed. He waited the helicopter to answer. After hearing nothing for over a minute, he bellowed once more, "Team One to Alpha Chopper, do you copy?"

When he heard no response, he switched the channel back to the normal channel and spoke into the radio once more. "This is Bando of Team One to Rocket Commander, we heard an explosion outside and felt the tower shake. None of the alarms are goin' off but we tried raisin' the chopper with no success."

"Remain at your positions," the Rocket Commander directed. "Gideon's almost through the firewall. After that, we'll be finished here."

"Understood sir," the Bando answered. He then went back to watching the corridor, knowing that his team was the first line of defense against anyone who attempted to interrupt Gideon at the top of the tower.

Meanwhile, outside of the Radio Tower, a Charizard hovered above the flaming wreckage of the helicopter. Sitting on top of the Charizard was John Ketchum, dressed in a black suit with a black helmet with an orange faceplate, a uniform that was similar to that of a Galactic Federation Stealth Marine. Sitting next to the man was an Espeon, whose eyes were still glowing.

"Are you sure that the helicopter crew did not manage to alert the others of our arrival?" John asked the cat-like Psychic-type Pokémon.

Espeon turned to John and nodded once.

"Good," came the man's response. Turning to face Charizard, he directed the Fire/Flying-type dragon-like Pokémon, "Take us down to the ground floor. We're going to have to clear out the entire tower if we're to ensure that the people don't suffer any casualties. If we teleport straight into the transmitter, we risk allowing Team Rocket to flank us from behind and damage the transmitter in the ensuing battle. We must do this carefully." He then turned back to Espeon and told it, "Espeon, you must block Team Rocket from suspecting anything. The Rockets with the scientist on the observation deck should be too heavily focused on keeping that scientist safe to worry about what's happening on the lower levels, but still, keep your senses open and alert me if the situation changes."

"Espeon," the Pokémon answered, nodding.

He then turned to Charizard and directed, "Take us down."

Charizard nodded and descended past the helicopter's wreckage. The Pokémon landed a dozen meters from the still burning wreckage of the helicopter. John then dismounted Charizard and returned him to his Poké Ball. Since his Poké Balls' seals were broken, even if Team Rocket succeeded, it would not affect his Pokémon at all. However, his mission was to prevent Team Rocket's goals from fully succeeding. He had his own plans for the Radio Tower.

After returning Charizard to his Poké Ball, he took out two Poké Balls and opened them, revealing Umbreon and Raichu. Looking down at each of them, he gave his instructions. "Umbreon, you're going to help cover me as we make our way through the tower. At times, you may need to help out Espeon, especially if the Rocket Psychic-type Pokémon try to scan for us." Turning to Raichu, he directed, "Raichu, you're the main offense here. We're fighting in enclosed spaces so be careful. Charizard, Golem, and Gyarados aren't going to be much use here since we're trying to limit the damage and the fighting will be tight. That means that you're the go to mon. You and I will be doing most of the fighting here."

"Rai," Raichu answered, clenching his fingers into fists.

John smiled at his Pokémon. "Okay then, everyone, let's go!" he proclaimed. With that proclamation, John and his Pokémon charged into the Goldenrod Radio Tower.

Meanwhile, back at Pokémon League Headquarters, now the new headquarters for Team Rocket, Ash and his Pokémon were quick to engage the Team Rocket Trio. Jessie and James quickly let out all of their Pokémon consisting of Seviper, Yanmega, Swoobat, a female Jellicent, Wobbuffet, and Gourgeist for Jessie. James let out a Malamar, Carnivine, Mr. Mime, Cofagrigus, Amoonguss, a large mushroom-like Pokémon with a Poké Ball colored cap with warts, a gray stem-like body with two gray arms with two Poké Ball like shields on the ends of the arms; and a Growlithe named Growlie, a dog-like Pokémon with the fur pattern resembling that of a tiger's.

Ash grimaced as Team Rocket let out their Pokémon. Jessie and James glanced at Ash's team and grinned. "You're a little outnumbered here, twerp," Jessie quipped.

"You won't beat us this time," James said, almost in echo. "You're outnumbered two to one."

Mewtwo then stepped forward, his eyes glowing, causing Jessie, James, and Meowth to take a step back, for like Ash, they, too, remembered the events of Mount Quena. "Mewtwo," Jessie stammered.

"It's not too late for you three to change your minds," Mewtwo told them. "You don't have to go out like this. You can still change. You're not like the others."

"We're Team Rocket, and we're going to protect the boss no matter what it takes!" Jessie declared.

James nodded, too, also prompting Growlie to step forward to defend his master.

"This is unfortunate," was Mewtwo's only statement as he looked down at the ground. However, it would not be Mewtwo who engaged Team Rocket and their Pokémon.

Ash's Pokémon quickly stepped out in front of him and engaged Team Rocket and their Pokémon. Having learned from Mia's tactics, Ash's Venusaur stepped forward and began the battle by using Sleep Powder on Team Rocket and their Pokémon. Growlie attempted to incinerate the cloud of Sleep Powder but Mewtwo used his psychic powers to prevent Growlie from being able to use Flamethrower or any other ranged Fire-type attacks. As such, the Sleep Powder cloud fell upon Team Rocket and their Pokémon, putting all of them except for the part Grass-type Pokémon to sleep. Charizard quickly dealt with those Pokémon with a trio of Fire Blast attacks, taking down Gourgeist, Carnivine, and Amoonguss with single hits. The rest of Ash's Pokémon then dealt with the sleeping Team Rocket Pokémon, each one picking their targets by type and hitting them with super effective moves. Within seconds, all of Team Rocket's Pokémon was rendered unconscious, Pikachu using Thunderbolt on Jessie, James, and Meowth.

As soon as the battle was over, Ash took out some rope and used it to bind the hands and feet of the Team Rocket Trio. He then returned the unconscious Pokémon to their Poké Balls and tossed them far away from Team Rocket so that when they did wake up, they would not be able to reach their Poké Balls and heal their Pokémon. Once Team Rocket and their Pokémon were restrained, the group continued down the corridor.

Not too far down the corridor, Ash and the others spotted Giovanni standing before a door in the distance. Sitting next to him was his Persian. Upon seeing the man, Ash rushed forward, Pikachu hot on his heals. However, Mewtwo sensed that something was wrong and called after Ash, "Wait, something's wrong!"

Ash looked back at Mewtwo and just as he did so, Giovanni pulled out a Ray Gun and took aim at the boy. Just as he pulled the trigger, Mewtwo teleported in front of Ash and raised a shield over himself, causing the green pulse to bounce off of his shield and into the floor, burning a hole into the floor. Mewtwo then used Psychic to shatter the Ray Gun. Giovanni merely scowled as his firearm fell apart in his hands.

"So, you're here," the Rocket Boss grumbled. His lips then twisted into a grin. "It looks like I'll finally be able to test the full power of _my_ Legendary Pokémon."

As soon as he had said those words, several flashes of light appeared around him and suddenly, hovering about him were the Lake Guardians: Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit, as well as the Legendary Beasts: Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Giovanni grinned as the Pokémon stood in front of him.

Ash went to prepare for battle but Mewtwo held up his paw and said, "No. _I_ will engage the Legendary Pokémon. You go and fight Giovanni."

"Yes, boy. Fight me," Giovanni mocked, taking out a Poké Ball from his jacket pocket and holding it in front of him. "But if you want me, come and get me."

The door behind him then slid open and Giovanni ducked inside, the door quickly sliding closed behind him. Ash when to charge after Giovanni when the Legendary Pokémon unleashed their attacks on him and his Pokémon friends, consisting of Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Thunder, as well as three Shadow Balls from Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. However, Mewtwo disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of Ash and his Pokémon, intercepting the attacks from the Legendary Pokémon, a shield flaring as he withstood all of the attacks. The attacks exploded against his shield, throwing up a massive cloud of dust that obscured the cat-like Psychic-type Super Legendary Pokémon, causing Ash to grow concerned that Mewtwo may have taken some damage from the attacks.

Soon, though, the dust cloud instantly dispersed and Mewtwo emerged from it unscathed, his eyes glowing and his shield surrounding him as he floated there. He looked over at Ash and told him, "Get him. I'll deal with these fools myself."

"But you're…"

"Going to crush them," Mewtwo told the boy confidently. "Don't worry about me. Just take down Giovanni. Don't even worry about leaving some of him for me. Get him and save your mother."

"Will do, Mewtwo," Ash replied as he and his Pokémon friends charged forward towards the door. When he arrived, the door slid open, allowing Ash entry to the room beyond.

Once the door slid closed once more, Mewtwo stood firm and focused on the six Legendary Pokémon arrayed against him. As they came against him, all he could do was grin. "Bring it on," he uttered confidently as they surged towards him, the bipedal cat-like Pokémon knowing that they were not strong enough to defeat him.

Inside the chamber, Ash found himself standing in a large office with several bookcases as well as a desk. Next to the desk was fancy sofa with his mother sitting on it. As soon as he spotted his mother, he rushed over to her, exclaiming, "Mom!"

As he went to hug her and check on her, he noticed a flicker on his mother, almost as if she were nothing more than a holographic image. As he reached out to touch her arm, he felt nothing and the image promptly vanished, revealing the ruse. He gritted his teeth as he scanned the room, searching for any secret exit. He soon found Giovanni standing near the bookcase, his Persian beside him.

"If you want to save your mother and also destroy the Badge Amplifier, follow me," the Rocket Boss told him. Giovanni then retreated through the bookcase as he pulled a lever and the bookcase spun around, revealing a secret exit. The bookcase soon spun back to its normal position. Heedless of the danger, Ash rushed forward and pulled on the lever so that he could follow after Giovanni. The bookcase soon spun him through to another corridor, this one was narrow and would make him and his Pokémon prime targets, especially the larger ones like Charizard, Venusaur, or Blastoise. As such, when the other Pokémon followed him into the corridor, he took out his Poké Balls and told his larger Pokémon, "Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Snorlax, return."

Red beams erupted from his Poké Balls and quickly returned the Pokémon to their Poké Balls. Once they were inside, Ash explained the situation to them. "I have a bad feeling about this corridor. I don't want you being easy targets for any defense systems." Even though each of his Pokémon was quite durable in battle, he did not want them to be weakened when they faced off against Giovanni, for he had a feeling that he may still have to fight against Legendary Pokémon.

He quickly made his way down the corridor, Pikachu and Donphan keeping a close watch on the walls for any signs of defenses that may have activated. More than once, a suspicious gleam on the walls caused Pikachu to ready an electrical attack, or Donphan to prepare to power a Stone Edge attack. As such, Donphan used Rapid Spin down the corridor to try to expose any traps on the ground and clear them. Surprisingly, there were none and his caution was unneeded.

Eventually, they came to the end of the corridor and they saw a doorway that seemed to open into a larger chamber. A light shown through the door and Ash quickly charged towards the light, Pikachu and Donphan following after him. Once he reached the doorway, he charged in, not caring about what was in the next room

When Ash emerged from the corridor and into the next room, he found that it consisted of a large battlefield. The battlefield was virtually identical to the one that he had battled on in the main stadium during his championship battle with Mia. Some of the lights were on but they were dim, just barely bright enough for him to find his way around. Looking around, he saw a large scoreboard and a set of stands. Looking up, he saw a cylindrical cage suspended above the battlefield. Upon closer inspection, he saw that someone was inside the cage. He soon heard a voice cry from the cage, "Ash?" He instantly recognized it as belonging to his mother.

"Mom!" he cried as he rushed towards the center of the battlefield so he could try to reach the cage, letting Charizard out of his Poké Ball.

The moment he arrived at the center of the battlefield, the lights immediately came on and Ash saw Giovanni standing only a few feet away, grinning. "Well, you've caught up to me."

"Let my mom go!" Ash demanded. His demand merely drew a laugh from the Rocket Boss.

"You really want to save your mother, don't you?"

Ash seethed. "Let her go, Giovanni. It's me you want."

"Actually, I want both of you, but for different reasons," the Rocket Boss corrected, holding up a finger. He then laughed once more. "Besides, if we're going to do this, shouldn't we do it the right way, the way it always has been done in our world, the way it always will be done?"

"What do you mean?" Ash demanded, seething and holding out two of his Poké Balls.

Giovanni then grinned. "I mean that we shall decide this through a Pokémon Battle. If you win, I'll release your mother and surrender myself to you. However, if you lose, you'll surrender yourself to me, allowing me to do whatever I want to you."

Ash could only grin. "Okay, I accept."

"This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit," Giovanni declared. The moment he made the declaration, a holographic referee appeared. The referee resembled a human male of about thirty years of age. "No two Pokémon may hold the same hold item; potions and other non-hold healing and status enhancing items are forbidden until the end of the battle and each Pokémon are limited to using four moves in this battle. Do you agree to these terms?"

"I do," Ash answered. "And if either of us breaks any of these rules, it counts as an automatic forfeit," the boy declared, drawing a scowl from Giovanni. Still, that did nothing to dissuade the Rocket Boss from staring the battle as he gripped his first Pokémon.

"Very well, then Ash Ketchum. Since I made the challenge, I'll choose first!"

With that, the scoreboard came to life and images of Ash and Giovanni appeared, each one with six slots underneath them. The moment the scoreboard came to life, Giovanni cried, "Rhyperior, go!"

Giovanni's Poké Ball opened and out came Rhyperior, a Ground/Rock-type Pokémon. This made Ash's choice for the battle easy. "Blastoise, I choose you!"

Just then, Ash tossed his Poké Ball out onto the battlefield and it opened, revealing the large blue tortoise-like Pokémon. The two Pokémon then stared at each other, each one sizing the other up. Just then, the holographic referee declared, "Let the battle begin!" With that, both Pokémon prepared their attacks and engaged each other. The battle for the fate of Delia Ketchum, as well as Giovanni, had begun.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Giovanni began the battle by pointing at Ash's Blastoise and crying, "Rhyperior, use Thunderbolt!"

Rhyperior nodded and electricity crackled around the large Pokémon's head. It then unleashed the Thunderbolt onto Blastoise, who did not move, merely steeling himself for the attack. The Thunderbolt struck Blastoise and electricity arced across his body and Blastoise groaned in discomfort. However, despite the fact that the attack was super effective against Blastoise, the Thunderbolt did not inflict much damage to the Water-type Pokémon.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!" Ash cried, pointing at Rhyperior.

"Blastoise," the Pokémon said in a plain voice as it focused on Rhyperior, who took a step back, stunned that its Thunderbolt was not more effective against the Water-type Pokémon.

Blastoise's Hydro Cannons zeroed in on Rhyperior and the Pokémon immediately let loose with Hydro Pump, firing two streams of water at the Ground/Rock-type Pokémon. Rhyperior was too slow to avoid the steams of water, which scored direct hits on the Pokémon. The force of the water streams knocked the heavy Rhyperior off its feet and sent it flying through the air. Given the fact that since Rhyperior was a Ground/Rock-type Pokémon, it took four times the normal damage from Blastoise's Hydro Pump. Needless to say, the Pokémon did not stand against the attack and after it landed, it skidded along the ground until it came to a stop, swirls in its eyes.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle. Blastoise is the winner," the holographic referee declared.

Blastoise gave a smug smile as he looked out at Giovanni. Still, Ash did not smile at the ease of this victory. He had expected Giovanni to send in another Pokémon, one that was better suited for dealing with Blastoise, not one that could get one-shot by him. To make matters seem even more suspicious, Giovanni gave no real reaction to his defeat. He simply held out his Pokémon and recalled Rhyperior.

"Not bad, Ash," Giovanni called out to Ash in a confident voice, causing the teen to scowl. Something was up. "Try your luck with this one."

Giovanni held up another Poké Ball and opened it. A blue blob of energy emerged from it and landed on the ground in front of the Rocket Boss. When it fully formed, it formed into Electivire. Ash grimaced at the sight of Electivire, something that Giovanni was quick to notice. Ash then took out Blastoise's Poké Ball.

"Blastoise, return," he called out to the turtle-like Pokémon. A red beam was emitted by the Poké Ball, which collided with Blastoise and transformed him into a red blob of energy, the ball then drawing in Blastoise. Once Blastoise was recalled, Ash looked over at Donphan and cried, "Donphan, go!"

Donphan stepped out onto the battlefield and issued a cry. Ash pointed to Donphan and commanded, "Donphan, use Stealth Rock on the battlefield now!"

Ash's command surprised Giovanni, something his expression could not hide as he raised his eyebrow. He had expected Ash to simply use Earthquake and try to take out Electivire that way, but he was not averse to Ash using Stealth Rock. Many of his Pokémon resisted it and it left Donphan open to a super effective Ice Punch, something the Rocket Boss was quick to capitalize on.

"Electivire, use Ice Punch!"

As Giovanni was giving the order to attack Donphan, several silver glitters of energy appeared around Donphan and grew larger as Electivire got closer. The silver glitters grew in size until they became large, solid gray rocks. The rocks then buried themselves into the ground and burrowed under the battlefield until they were no longer visible.

During the laying of the Stealth Rock, Electivire managed to reach Donphan and drew back its hand, curling its fingers into a fist. As soon as it formed its fist, an icy blue glow surrounded the fist, flakes of snow and ice forming on it and falling to the floor from it. It then threw its punch at Donphan just as the rocks from Stealth Rock had buried themselves. Donphan attempted to rush forward so as to dodge the punch, but he was not fast enough to fully avoid the punch and Electivire's punch managed to connect with the Pokémon's back, knocking him to the ground. Ice began to form on Donphan's back, but he quickly used Rapid Spin to curl into a ball, managing to break the ice, and roll away from Electivire.

Giovanni grimaced as Donphan rolled away. None of Electivire's ranged attacks would be of much use against Donphan, especially since Giovanni had trained Electivire as a close combat specialist and his only ranged moves were Electric-type techniques. Donphan soon turned around to face down the Electric-type once more. Still, the Pokémon was breathing heavily, Donphan having taken significant damage from that super effective Ice Punch.

"Electivire, use Ice Punch once more!" Giovanni cried.

This was where Electivire's lack of an effective ranged technique doomed him, for Donphan now had time to use Earthquake. "Donphan, use Earthquake now!" Ash called.

Donphan was already in the process of lifting his feet when Ash gave the order. As such, he stomped on the ground just as Ash had finished issuing the command. The moment his feet had struck the ground, the ground began to shake from the force of the impact, rings of energy being sent from the area where Donphan stomped. Ash struggled to remain standing, as did Giovanni as the ground shook, Giovanni having more trouble standing since he was closer to Donphan than Ash was at the moment. However, as with Mia and her Garchomp's Earthquake, it was Electivire that had the most trouble enduring the attack. The Electric-type Pokémon tripped and fell to the ground, enduring even more of the attack as the ground continued to shake. Still, even with the damage that he had sustained, Electivire was not down yet. Struggling to stand, Electivire eventually managed to stand and continue the fight, trying to carry out his attack. However, the damage that he had sustained was really taking its toll.

The Pokémon lunged towards Donphan, attempting to throw his fist at the Ground-type Pokémon and take him down before he very possibly would have succumbed to his own injuries. Donphan, however, was in better condition than Electivire and was easily able to avoid the slow Ice Punch, which seemed to be flickering as Electivire struggled to focus his energy into the attack. Donphan jumped to the side and Electivire punched nothing but air. That was when Donphan finished the battle.

"Donphan, use Earthquake one more time!"

Donphan complied and stomped the ground once more, sending forth rings of energy one more time through the ground and causing it to shake. Electivire, which was already on his last legs, was in no shape to endure another Earthquake, and sure enough, this one would finish the fight. Electivire immediately fell to the ground, the swirls in his eyes showing that he was unable to continue the fight.

"Electivire is unable to battle. Donphan is the winner," the referee declared, causing Giovanni to grimace and Ash to cheer.

"Way to go Donphan," the boy cheered as Donphan rushed back to his side.

Meanwhile, Giovanni considered his next move. His Rock-type Pokémon would be no match for Ash's team since he had both Donphan and Blastoise to deal with them. And even though he had Cloyster, which could deal with many of Ash's known Pokémon, it was weak to Pikachu, who was Ash's best friend, and also the obsession of Jessie, James, and Meowth. As such, he decided to use a Pokémon that he had not used against Mia.

"Kangaskhan, go!" Giovanni commanded as he tossed his next Poké Ball out onto the battlefield. The Poké Ball opened and out came Giovanni's Kangaskhan, a large bipedal Pokémon that resembled a large, muscular kangaroo. It had a thick tail, brown hide with raised patches on it, and it also carried a baby Kangaskhan in its pouch on its front. The moment Kangaskhan stepped out onto the battlefield, the stones from Donphan's Stealth Rock rose from the ground and orbited Kangaskhan for a second before converging on the Pokémon and colliding with it, causing it to recoil and grunt in pain. Giovanni grimaced but knew that Stealth Rock did not inflict much damage on Kangaskhan, but that even the little damage it _did_ do to his Pokémon could play a big role in the battle.

Ash narrowed his gaze on Kangaskhan as he mulled what he should do. Considering his options, he decided that his best bet would be to send in Charizard. He recalled Donphan, saying, "Return Donphan." Once Donphan was returned to his Poké Ball, Ash brought it to his face and said, "You were great out there. Take a good rest. I may need you later." He then looked over at Charizard, who looked back at him and gave him a confident look. "Are ya ready Charizard?"

Charizard nodded, his expression turning serious.

"Then go!" Ash cried, pointing Charizard at Kangaskhan.

Giovanni grinned as Charizard stepped out onto the battlefield and breathed a large blast of fire into the air. However, since it was not used on a Pokémon or as a support technique, the Flamethrower did not actually count as a move against Giovanni, though Giovanni did make note of Charizard's entrance. The reason that the Rocket Boss was grinning, though, was because he had trained his Kangaskhan to be able to fight at range against Flying and Ice-type Pokémon by using Rock Slide. Even better was that Charizard had a quadruple weakness to the Rock-type move. The Rocket Boss wasted no time beginning the battle.

"Kangaskhan, use Rock Slide!" Giovanni commanded, wanting to end the battle as quickly as possible.

"Charizard use Fire Blast now!" Ash commanded in counterpoint.

Charizard was faster on the draw, and did not need Ash to issue the command, so while Ash was still talking, he had already unleashed the Fire Blast on Kangaskhan just as the rocks from Kangaskhan's Rock Slide were rising from the ground. A few of them managed to unintentionally intercept the Fire Blast and blunt its blow, superheating the rocks and knocking them off course before the Fire Blast managed to collide with Kangaskhan. Kangaskhan grunted as it took the hit and was forced back several feet before the blast of fire dissipated, the Pokémon suffering significant damage from the attack, but still not nearly enough to fell it. Still, Charizard had plenty of time to evade the Rock Slide, some of which was deflected by the Fire Blast. Charizard backed away a few feet and took to the sky, doing his best to avoid the attack. He deftly maneuvered through the air, dodging and weaving through the barrage of rocks. A few rocks managed to find their mark and Charizard grunted with the hits, but he was undeterred and remained aloft.

Eventually, the barrage of rocks ended and Charizard was quick to retaliate once more. "Charizard, use Fire Blast one more time!" Ash cried.

Charizard nodded and quickly unleashed another Fire Blast on the large Pokémon. Kangaskhan's lack of speed was its downfall as the blast of fire collided with the Pokémon before it could unleash another Rock Slide attack on Charizard. The Pokémon grunted as the stick figure-shaped blast of flame collided with it. The second blast of flame was all Kangaskhan could endure. It was sent sliding back several feet until the blast of fire subsided. The Pokémon then fell to one knee, burn marks all over its body showing the damage that the Pokémon had sustained. The Pokémon attempted to stand back up and reengage Charizard, but it was unable to do so, prompting Giovanni to yell, "Kangaskhan, get up. Get back in the fight!"

However, her master's prodding was to no avail, for Kangaskhan simply fell to the ground, swirls appearing in her eyes. "Kangaskhan is unable to battle. Charizard is the winner!" the referee declared.

"Great job Charizard!" Ash exclaimed. "You did it!"

Charizard then flew back to Ash and used Flamethrower on him in celebration, burning the boy's face in the process. Ash did not suffer any real injury and merely shook off the soot on his face as he beamed at Charizard, laughing. Even though they had only beaten three of Giovanni's Pokémon, they knew that Giovanni was in trouble, something Giovanni could no longer hide as he returned Kangaskhan to her Poké Ball.

Giovanni looked over at Ash and Charizard celebrating and scowled, trying to suppress a grimace. Despite the fact that only three of his Pokémon had fallen, it may as well have been five of his six Pokémon having fallen with his only remaining Pokémon having been a newborn Magikarp considering how easily Ash was beating his team. The boy's Pokémon were indeed just as strong as Mia's, who had massacred his team in their previous battle. Still, Ash had shown off two of his strongest Pokémon and he still had his secret weapon even if the boy won the initial battle, which was looking more and more likely. Still, he had three Pokémon left. If Ash's other Pokémon were not that strong, then he could turn this around fairly quickly. _Yeah, like that's going to happen_ , he thought sarcastically. He now considered what Pokémon to use next. There was only one realistic choice.

"Cloyster, go!" he cried as he tossed Cloyster's Poké Ball onto the battlefield.

Out came the oyster-like Pokémon, the Pokémon uttering, "Cloyster," as it emerged from its Poké Ball.

The moment Cloyster came out, Ash knew exactly what Pokémon he was going to use against Giovanni. Charizard flew back and Ash told him, "Come on back Charizard. I want to use Pikachu against Cloyster."

Charizard nodded and returned to Ash's side. Pikachu, hearing that Ash wanted to use him in battle was already heading out to the battlefield when Ash asked, "Are ya ready buddy?"

Pikachu nodded, clenching his fingers into fists when he looked back at Ash. He then turned to face Cloyster once more, electricity crackling about his cheeks. Giovanni grimaced as he knew what he was about to do, but he felt as if he had little choice. Ash initiated the battle just as Giovanni had suspected he would.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Cloyster!"

Knowing that Cloyster would never defeat Pikachu, Giovanni decided to make preparations for Plan B. As such, he ordered, "Cloyster, use Toxic Spikes!"

The move surprised Ash as he arched his eyebrows, wondering what Giovanni was doing but Pikachu was not concerned as he unleashed his Thunderbolt on Cloyster. As Pikachu was launching the Thunderbolt, Cloyster fired a volley of Toxic Spikes into the air to scatter them across the battlefield. He had just managed to get the attack off as Pikachu's Thunderbolt had struck him. The Light Ball enhanced Electric-type attack was more than sufficient to finish take down the Bivalve Pokémon, but Giovanni still grinned as Cloyster fell to Pikachu's Thunderbolt. With Toxic Spikes on the battlefield, any Pokémon Ash put onto the battlefield would be poisoned. "Cloyster is unable to battle. Pikachu is the winner," the referee declared.

Giovanni recalled the fallen Pokémon, the red beam drawing the Pokémon into the Poké Ball. Once it was recalled, Giovanni told it, "Good work Cloyster. Plan B is now ready to go."

Meanwhile, Pikachu waited on the battlefield to see what Ash's command would be, with Ash waiting for Giovanni to send out his next Pokémon. Giovanni grinned as he knew exactly what his next Pokémon would be.

"Aggron, go!" the Rocket Boss cried, tossing out his Poké Ball. The Pokémon emerged from the Poké Ball and landed on the battlefield with a thud, shaking the ground in the process.

"Pikachu return," Ash called.

Pikachu nodded and ran back to Ash, the boy smiling. "You were awesome out there but we need to clear those Toxic Spikes."

Pikachu then stood by Ash's side as he took out a Poké Ball and tossed it onto the battlefield. "Venusaur, I choose you!" the boy cried.

Giovanni grimaced as Ash made his choice. He had miscalculated Ash's strategy. He had expected Ash to bring Sceptile since that was the Pokémon Ash had used against Mia, rather than Venusaur. Venusaur was part Poison-type, so when he emerged from his Poké Ball, he landed on the battlefield with a thud, and instantly neutralized the Toxic Spikes, the spikes immediately disappearing from the battlefield as Venusaur walked around the battlefield. Once he was finished, he simply stood in the middle of the battlefield, awaiting Ash's command. When Ash did not immediately issue a command, Giovanni decided to take the initiative.

"Aggron, use Iron Head!"

Aggron nodded and its head was surrounded by a white glow as it began to charge towards Venusaur. "Venusaur, use Sleep Powder!" Ash cried.

Venusaur nodded and immediately released a blue cloud of powder from his plant. Giovanni grimaced as he saw Aggron charging headfirst into a cloud of Sleep Powder. There was still hope, though, since Sleep Powder only had a seventy-five percent chance of putting Aggron to sleep. Unfortunately, for Giovanni, today was not his lucky day, for the moment that Aggron ran into the cloud, its charge slowed and the glow around its head vanished. It soon came to a complete stop and it curled up on the ground and fell asleep, leaving it wide open to attack.

After Aggron had fallen asleep, Ash took out Venusaur's Poké Ball and cried, "Venusaur, return!"

After Ash returned Venusaur to the Poké Ball, Ash looked at it and said, "Great job Venusaur. Rest up for any tricks that Giovanni may have later." He then took out another Poké Ball and cried, "Blastoise, I choose you!"

Blastoise immediately emerged from the Poké Ball and landed on the battlefield with a thud, shaking the field. The shaking was not sufficient to awaken Aggron, though, who continued to remain fast asleep.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump on Aggron!" Ash commanded.

Blastoise looked back at Ash and nodded. He then turned back to Aggron and trained his hydro cannons onto the Steel/Rock-type Pokémon. After a second, he unleashed a massive Hydro Pump on the sleeping Pokémon. The water collided with the Pokémon and sent it skidding along the ground several feet backwards. Despite the attack being super effective, it did not knock out Aggron. However, the Pokémon also did not awaken from the attack.

"Wake up now Aggron, or you'll be beaten!" Giovanni cried.

Despite his cry, Aggron remained fast asleep. "Damn it Aggron, wake up now!" Giovanni screamed once again.

Again, Aggron did not respond. Ash then looked over at Blastoise and smiled. "Blastoise, use Hydro Pump one more time!"

Blastoise did as commanded and unleashed another two torrents of water Aggron's way. The torrents collided with the sleeping Pokémon and sent him skidding back several feet again. This time, the attack seemed to awaken the Pokémon, for its eyes opened, causing Giovanni to grin for a split second. However, that grin quickly turned into a frown when all he saw were swirls in Aggron's eyes.

"Aggron is unable to battle. Blastoise is the winner," the referee declared.

Giovanni grimaced once more. He only had one more Pokémon left, Persian, and he knew that Persian would be no match for Ash's entire team. Still, he would not end the battle prematurely. As such, he looked down at Persian and said, "Persian, go!"

The cat-like Pokémon immediately stepped out onto the battlefield and glared at Blastoise. Blastoise looked ready to battle, but Ash had other ideas.

"Blastoise return," he called. Blastoise looked back at Ash questioningly, but Ash did not back down. "Return Blastoise. Pikachu has some unfinished business with Persian."

Blastoise nodded and allowed Ash to return him to his Poké Ball. After Ash returned Blastoise to his Poké Ball, he told him, "Great job Blastoise. Rest up for any tricks Giovanni may have waiting for us after we win this final battle."

"This _will_ be your final battle, boy," Giovanni called across the battlefield, as if he had heard Ash talking to Blastoise.

"It will be, against Team Rocket, that is," Ash retorted. He then looked at Pikachu and said, "Are ya ready buddy?"

Pikachu nodded, electricity crackling from his cheeks. "Alright, buddy, I choose you!" Ash declared, pointing Pikachu towards Persian.

Pikachu then ran out onto the battlefield and stood there, electricity crackling about his cheeks. Giovanni took a good long look at Pikachu. _So this is the Pikachu that Jessie, James, and Meowth obsessed over for so long_ , he thought. He had seen Pikachu take down Cloyster with one hit, but that was not surprising. Cloyster was a sacrificial Pokémon anyway, even though that sacrifice had been rendered useless by Venusaur neutralizing the Toxic Spikes. Persian was a different story. It was his beloved pet and was also a very capable battler, and had also bested Pikachu once before. He could, and would, do so again.

"Persian, use Bubble Beam!" Giovanni commanded.

"Pikachu, dodge and use Thunderbolt," Ash commanded in counterpoint.

Persian unleashed a stream of bubbles from his mouth towards Pikachu, but the electric mouse was too fast and managed to avoid the barrage of bubbles with ease. Electricity then crackled around his cheeks as he powered his Thunderbolt.

"Persian, use Protect!" Giovanni commanded.

Persian complied and a field of energy surrounded the Pokémon just as Pikachu's Thunderbolt was about to hit him. The shield erected faster than Pikachu could fire his Thunderbolt and the lightning bolt struck the shield. Despite being powered by the Light Ball, Persian's Protect barrier did not strain and it absorbed the attack and completely neutralized it. Ash grimaced at the sight as Giovanni grinned. This battle was not going to be like the others. Persian would win this battle, just as he had the previous battle against Pikachu.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt again!" Ash cried. Again, the Protect barrier rose over Persian and it absorbed the attack with Persian suffering no damage at all.

"It's no use, boy," Giovanni gloated. "Protect will protect Persian from any attack you send against him."

Ash scowled, but he also knew that Giovanni was not entirely correct. He knew that while Protect could protect Persian from any attack Pikachu could use against him, if Pikachu kept firing attack after attack, that eventually, Protect would fail and Persian would take a hit since it had a greater chance of failure, the more times it was used consecutively. Thus, Ash's strategy was to keep Persian on the defensive so that it could not attack Pikachu and break the chain of Protects.

As such, Pikachu kept launching Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt at Persian, hoping to wear out Persian's Protect. Eventually, Persian attempted to raise a Protect barrier, only for the barrier not to rise. Giovanni's eyes went wide with shock, as did Persian's, when the Protect failed and the Thunderbolt made contact with Persian and scored a direct hit on the cat-like Pokémon. Electricity arced across Persian's body and it gave a cry of discomfort. Still, despite the attack being twice as powerful as it would have been in the past, it was still insufficient to take down Persian. And with Limber, Persian had no fear of suffering from paralysis, either. Seeing that Protect was no longer working, Giovanni decided to switch tactics and go on offense.

"Persian, use Shadow Claw!" the Rocket Boss commanded.

Persian obeyed and charged towards Pikachu, a purple aura surrounding his right front paw. "Pikachu, dodge and use Thunderbolt!" Ash cried.

Pikachu tried to obey Ash and ran away from the cat-like Pokémon and power a Thunderbolt but Persian was too fast. It caught up to the electric mouse before it could power a Thunderbolt and slashed at Pikachu with Shadow Claw, scoring a direct hit on the electric mouse. The attack sent Pikachu flying through the air several meters. Pikachu soon hit the ground hard and bounced on it a few times before skidding to a halt.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, rushing over to his best friend to see if Pikachu was okay. When he got to Pikachu, he could see several dirt smudges on the electric mouse's body, along with several cuts and bruises, but Pikachu was not beaten yet, something that neither Persian, nor Giovanni could see. Persian was already licking its paw and grinning, as if it had already won the fight.

Turning over onto his stomach, Pikachu powered his Thunderbolt while he was still prone. Giovanni barely caught sight of the fact that Pikachu was not only still able to battle but was actually battling and he cried, "Persian, dodge now! Pikachu's…" but it was too late. Pikachu unleashed the Thunderbolt, catching the cat-like Pokémon completely off guard. Electricity arced across Persian's body and it gave a cry of pain as it endured the attack. To make matters worse, though, Pikachu's Thunderbolt had scored a critical hit on Persian and it was too much for the Pokémon to take. After a few seconds, the Thunderbolt was expended and the stream of electricity mercifully came to an end. Persian then collapsed onto the ground, swirls appearing in its eyes.

"Persian is unable to battle," the referee declared. "And that means that the winner is Ash!"

With that, the image of Giovanni and Ash on the scoreboard vanished and instead, the image of Ash's face with the word "WINNER" appeared in its place. The holographic referee also vanished, though the battlefield did not change, which Ash did not notice, or care about. Ash's face then split into a grin and he rushed over to Pikachu and picked him up and held him aloft in his arms.

"We did it!" the boy cried as he hugged Pikachu.

He then looked up at his mother, who was still hanging up in the cage. On the other side of the field, Giovanni took out the remote control and he pressed the single button on it. Suddenly, the bottom of the cage opened and Delia fell from the cage towards the floor. Fortunately, Charizard was fast on the draw and rocketed towards Delia, managing to position himself underneath her so he could catch her on his back. Delia landed on the dragon's back and Charizard then turned around and took her back to Ash.

Once Charizard had landed next to Ash, Delia quickly dismounted and rushed over to her son and hugged him fiercely. Ash returned her hug and the two of them simply remained in each other's arms for the next few moments, none of the Pokémon disturbing them. After a few moments, they eventually disengaged and Delia took a good long look at her son.

"You've grown so much, even in the last day. I'm so proud of you honey," she told him, her face beaming with pride and love. "I love you, Ash. I love you so much.

"Thanks Mom," Ash replied. "I love you too. And I'm also proud of you."

Delia did not know what Ash meant at first, but then her mind went back to the time when she had been dating Marcus, something that surprised her. She looked around and suddenly realized that her memories of Mia were coming back to her. Ash fished inside his bag and eventually managed to spot the Pendant of Memories that his father had given him. However, before he could draw it out, Delia hugged him again. As she hugged him, Ash was beginning to find it difficult to breathe.

"Mom, I can't breathe," he told her plainly.

Delia loosened her hold on him and he took a couple breaths before smiling back at her. "I'm so glad you're safe," she said, smiling. "They told me that you had died in the destruction of Team Rocket Headquarters."

"I would have if not for Charizard," Ash answered.

"So what happened?" Delia asked. "You were hit by the special abilities of the Lake Guardians. How do you have your mind, will, and emotions back?"

Ash looked at her sternly and replied, "Before I answer that, I will tell you that you are going to learn some things that will change what you think you know about our past."

"What do you mean?" Delia asked, perplexed by what he meant.

"I mean this has to do with family," Ash answered in a quiet, but serious tone.

After a moment, Delia nodded and said, "Okay Ash, you said that this would change what I thought I knew. What happened? How were you cured of your condition?"

"Dad found me and saved me," Ash answered with a sigh, knowing that his mother's last thoughts of his father were less than kind. He was not surprised when she was taken aback, her eyes going wide with shock. Her expression then darkened.

"Your father's back? What was he doing?" she asked harshly.

"He's not who you think," Ash countered quickly. "Everything you think you know about him is at least incomplete, if not outright wrong."

"What do you mean?" Delia demanded, a little harshly, which she quickly caught and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just, he hurt us very badly when he left."

"He never left us," Ash explained, shaking his head. "He was captured by corrupt elements of the Pokémon World police force, assuming they were, indeed, police, and put in jail for the killing of the Team Rocket commander that was leading the group that captured Mia, and also tried to capture me. He eventually escaped and continued to search for Mia but Team Rocket also began hunting him, too. Soon he met by a being called Master Hand. With the police and Team Rocket on his tail, no sign of Mia in sight, he accepted Master Hand's offer. There, he learned of the corruption in the Pokémon League and of Giovanni's goal is to take over the world and to make all Trainer-owned Pokémon his. He also learned that our memories had already been altered, as well as having League agents loyal to Team Rocket searching for both him and Mia in Pallet Town. Master Hand gave him a chance to help us all by joining the Subspace Army, so he took it. There's also more. Team Rocket is also being helped by a guy called Ganondorf, a high-ranking general in the Subspace Army; higher even than Dad. Although Dad didn't say this outright, I think that he suspects that the Subspace Army wants the Earth to be destroyed. He said that I, along with Mia, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and others, are Chosen Heroes. He thinks that Ganondorf wants to either turn or kill us so the Subspace Army can accomplish its own objectives without running into powerful resistance." He then gave a pause before continuing, "Mom, Dad's always loved us and has been there for us. The memories of him having left us were lies. I could have Mewtwo come in and confirm as such once he beats the Lake Guardians." He then paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Between you and me, I think I always suspected that something was wrong about my memories of Dad. I've always felt that he was not the person we thought he was."

Ash then stopped and let his mother take it all in. She stared at the ground not knowing what to feel. She oscillated between happiness, sadness, and even anger. Eventually, she looked up at her son and said, "I can't believe it. I don't know if I even _do_ believe any of what you're saying. Everything is just so fresh in my mind. I just don't know."

Ash sighed and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out the blue pendant and held it out to his mother. He told her, "If you don't believe me, just touch the pendant."

"What is it?"

"It's the Pendant of Memories," Ash answered. "It's what restored my memories of Mia, as well as those of Dad. If you don't trust me, just remember that until Mia told you who she was, you had no idea that you had a daughter. Yet when you see her now, you just know that she's your daughter." Delia was still not convinced. "Trust me," Ash continued in a serious tone, holding out the pendant.

Eventually, Delia hesitantly raised her hand and reached out towards the pendant. She wavered for a second before steeling her resolve and reaching out and touching the pendant. The moment she touched the pendant, her eyes went wide with shock for a second and she then slumped over, falling asleep, Ash managing to catch her and cushion her fall to the ground as he laid her down. As soon as he laid her down, he knelt by her and waited, wanting to be there when she awakened. He also let out all of his Pokémon, while he waited for his mother to awaken.

After a few minutes, during which Ash scanned the battlefield for any sign of Giovanni and finding none, he decided to focus on making sure that his mother was okay, Delia suddenly awakened. Her eyes shot wide open and she turned her head, scanning the area for Ash until she finally found him.

"Mom, are you alright?" Ash asked, worried that something was wrong since she had awakened so suddenly.

Delia took a few moments to get her bearings before sitting up, nodding and answering, "Yes, I'm fine Ash."

"Do you remember now?" was Ash's next question. He gave her a kind smile as she stood up.

Delia looked down at the ground and nodded. "How could I have ever forgotten?" she asked, barely able to hold back tears. "Mia's my daughter and John was, no, _is_ , my husband and has always been there for us. How could I not only forget, but think that he had abandoned us?"

"Team Rocket did this," Ash explained, seething and gritting his teeth. "They did it to me, too. They did this to all of us."

"But why?"

"They must have done it to cause us to forget about Dad and Mia since they had kidnapped Mia and Dad was actively searching for them and could have let us know about her," the boy surmised.

"But what did they want with Mia?" Delia asked, unsatisfied with the answer.

"They probably coveted her skills as a Pokémon Trainer and possibly as a fighter, too," Ash ventured. "She told me that she escaped them pretty quickly, though."

"But it's not just that, though," Delia said, almost breaking down. Delia struggled to keep herself from crying, eventually heaving a sigh and told Ash, "You know I dated Marcus only a few months after John went looking for Mia and was almost certainly captured by elements loyal to Team Rocket. Even though I had forgotten about your father and had false memories in my mind about him, there was always a feeling of shame in the back of my mind when I saw him and was with him. I think that's the only reason I never slept with him. Somehow, the true memory of your father was always at the back of my mind, telling me that my dating Marcus was wrong. Thinking back on how eager he was for sex, for all I know, Marcus was a Rocket and was simply using me."

Ash gave a sigh and nodded. "According to the memory I had, he was," Ash stated sadly, looking down at the ground, not meeting his mother's eyes. "And he did use your relationship with him, though I know you didn't go all the way with him. And I was proud of you when you ended the relationship. And I still am now." Ash then gave her mother an encouraging smile.

Delia then gritted her teeth and looked up at her son and smiled back at him. "You've become so strong, Ash, despite the difficulties arrayed against you. I am proud to have you as my son."

"And I'm proud to have you as my mom," Ash answered.

The two then shared an embrace that lasted for at least a minute. However, as they were embracing, Pikachu and the others noticed movement in the shadows and focused their attention on said shadows.

"I must say, that was a touching reunion," the Rocket Boss stated from the other end of the field, causing Ash and Delia to disengage and focus on the Rocket Boss. He was holding a gray briefcase in his hand. "Family is important to you, just as it was to your father and Mia. I must say that I will enjoy breaking your family up once more."

"You can't," Delia declared. "Ash won the battle just now fair and square. As such, according to Pokémon League rules, you must surrender to him since that was a stipulated condition of the battle that was verbally stated."

"Perhaps," Giovanni admitted, looking at the ground, his grin not vanishing, though. "But who says the battle is over?" Ash's eyes then went wide with shock.

"I beat you six-zero," Ash declared. "That's a clean sweep."

"And you think I only have six Pokémon?" Giovanni blurted. Giovanni then broke out into laughter. "Boy, I have many more than that, but I will only need six in order to defeat your team!"

"The battle's over Giovanni, you lost!" Ash declared. "Surrender now!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu added. Giovanni, however, still grinned.

"You don't get it, boy. I am the leader of the Pokémon League. _I_ make the rules. And I declare that you lose!"

"You don't have that right," Delia retorted. "You're the one who killed the Pokémon League council and its leaders."

"Who were, themselves, criminals," Giovanni finished. "And since I was on the council and am its highest-ranking surviving member, that makes me the one in charge of the Pokémon League. I know that you and your friends will never adhere to my demands, so I'll just have to eliminate you the old fashioned way."

With that, Giovanni placed the briefcase on the ground and opened it, revealing six Poké Balls. He then took the balls out and tossed them into the air, crying, "Legendary Pokémon, come forth and battle!"

Ash was taken aback as Giovanni made the declaration and opened the Poké Balls. After the balls opened, out came Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Latios, Latias, and Meloetta. Ash's eyes went wide with shock at the sight of it. However, he would have assistance in the form of the Stealth Rock that he had had Donphan lay down earlier. The rocks rose from the ground and orbited the Pokémon for a few seconds before converging on them and colliding with them, inflicting major damage to Articuno and Moltres, significant damage to Zapdos, and not insignificant damage to Latios, Latias, and Meloetta. As the Pokémon recoiled from the damage, Giovanni grimaced. He looked at Ash and saw the boy grin confidently. He would not back down, especially since Stealth Rock had taken its toll on the Legendary Pokémon, especially on the Legendary Birds. Even worse was that Giovanni was well aware of the fact that Ash's Charizard and Pikachu had taken down Legendary Pokémon before. And with Stealth Rock having significantly damaged half of his team, there was a chance that Ash may have evened out the playing field.

"No one ever said it was gonna be easy," he said grimly as he looked over at his Pokémon. He then turned to Pikachu and told him, "Pikachu, protect Mom. The rest of you, pick your targets and go!"

"The heck with that," Delia declared, stepping forward, grabbing a discarded Ray Gun from the ground that Ash had not noticed before. "I'm going to fight alongside you."

Pikachu then rejoined the rest of Ash's Pokémon. Ash then put his fingers to his Key Stone and called out to Charizard. "Charizard, we're pullin' out all the stops here. Mega Evolve!"

He then touched his Key Stone and it resonated with Charizard's Charizardite Y. Charizard immediately Mega Evolved into Charizard Y, emerging from the process with a roar. Giovanni grimaced, for none of his Pokémon could Mega Evolve. In addition, Pikachu also had that Light Ball, which increased the power of his attacks. Still, he did have six Legendary Pokémon at his disposal. Besides, even if Ash _did_ manage to defeat his Legendary Pokémon, he did have a fallback plan. As such, he pointed his Pokémon in the direction of Ash's Pokémon and cried, "Attack! Destroy that those two humans and their Pokémon!"

"Okay everyone, this is it," Ash said, focusing on Giovanni's team of Legendary Pokémon. "Go!" The battle between Ash's Pokémon and Giovanni's Legendary Pokémon had begun.

Meanwhile, over in the Goldenrod Radio Tower, Ash's father, John, was quickly making his way through the tower doing his best to clear the tower without the members of Team Rocket on the observation deck realizing that something was wrong. He had burst through the entrance and had opened fire on the two Rocket Grunts standing watch near the entrance before they could even draw their weapons or issue any orders on their Pokémon. The energy blasts from his Ray Gun blasting numerous holes into the Rockets' bodies, felling the Grunts. His Charizard and Umbreon quickly took care of the Kadabras that were standing guard before they could telepathically alert the rest of the Rockets to the fact that there was an intruder coming after them.

Once the first group of Rockets was taken care of, John looked over to Espeon and asked, "How many Rockets are left and where in the tower are they?"

Espeon's eyes began to glow as it used Psychic to scan the rest of the tower. As it scanned the tower, it found that most of the inhabitants were already unconscious, but that there were several Rockets on each of the floors, most of them near elevators and in good hold points, as well as the force on the observation deck. They were arrayed in such a position that they would be in perfect position to ambush anyone who attempted to storm the observation deck. It then relayed the information back to John.

"Thanks Espeon. Keep your senses open to the forces on the observation deck so we'll know how close they are to uploading the code."

"Espeon," Espeon replied, nodding.

With that, John and his Pokémon team continued their trek through the Radio Tower, making his way over to the stairwell. He needed to clear the Radio Tower of all Rockets so that the risk of the code being uploaded and enslaving all Trainer owned Pokémon to Team Rocket was negated.

Meanwhile, on the observation deck, Gideon was hard at work having his tablet break through the firewalls of the transmitter. The Grunts of Team Three were waiting impatiently as Gideon worked, several of them checking their watches. It had been close to twenty minutes since the process had started.

"How much longer will it take?" one of the Grunts asked in exasperation.

"A few minutes, maybe," Gideon answered nervously, noticing how impatient the others were. "The firewalls must have been upgraded since the Galactic Federation invasion of Earth," he explained. "It's a good thing Science Division took these things into account or this all would have been for naught. Don't worry, though. Everything is progressing well."

"Once the firewall is breached, how long will it take to upload the code?" another Grunt asked in a much calmer tone of voice.

"Ten seconds, maybe," Gideon answered. "The real time consumer is getting past all the firewalls."

That put the Rockets' minds at ease a bit. Still, they watched the elevator nervously, for while they trusted the others to inform them of trouble if they had the chance, it was the possibility of them being ambushed that troubled the Rockets protecting Gideon. As such, several Rockets took up defensive positions close to the elevator. If any unauthorized personnel decided to try to attack them, they would be in for a big surprise.

As for John, he was making great headway against Team Rocket, clearing out each floor with speed and precision. John, Raichu, and Umbreon would take out the enemy Rockets before they could even go for their radios. They did this for each floor with the Rockets not even being able to reach for their arms, radios, or Poké Balls before they were neutralized.

Once the last floor was cleared, John looked over to Espeon and asked, "Any more Rockets besides the ones on the observation deck?"

Espeon shook its head in the negative.

"Good." He then turned to the rest of his team and said, "Okay everyone, this is it. Once we get to the observation deck, take out the Rockets first and then take down any Pokémon that fight back. Espeon," he turned to the cat-like Pokémon, "since not all of the Rockets' Pokémon may be willing participants in this, you're going to be in charge of identifying neutral from foe."

"Espeon," the Pokémon responded.

"In addition, Team Rocket may have their own Psychic-type Pokémon up there scanning for intruders. I'll need you and Umbreon to jam them."

Espeon and Umbreon nodded in unison.

"Okay, then. Let's go."

John then went over to the elevator and called it to him. He and the Pokémon then waited for the elevator to arrive so they could make it to the observation deck. After a few seconds, there was a ding and the doors opened. The team then boarded the elevator and let it take them up to the observation deck.

Meanwhile, on the observation deck, Gideon was waiting for the program to make its way through the final firewalls. The Rockets looked nervously at the scientist as the process was taking far longer than he had anticipated.

"How much longer?" one of the Rockets queried impatiently.

"About a minute or so," came Gideon's answer.

The moment he said that, the elevator door opened and revealed John Ketchum and his Pokémon team. The Rocket's eyes went wide with shock and horror.

"An intruder!" one of the Rockets cried at the top of his lungs. That got him a quick death as John's Charizard unleashed a massive flamethrower on him, incinerating him in less than a second. He did not even have time to scream.

"Uh, Gideon, we don't have a minute," another Rocket said as John and his other Pokémon opened fire on the Rockets, felling three of them in a volley of laser, lightning, and psychic blasts, before the Rocket had finished speaking. Those also happened to be the last words the Rocket spoke before John shot him several times with his Ray Gun just as the Rocket was going for his own Ray Gun. After the Rocket fell, Gideon was the next to fall, John taking no chance as he cut the scientist down as he seemed to be going for a Ray Gun or other firearm of his own. The entire firefight was over within seconds.

Once Gideon and the other Rockets were dead, John rushed over to the tablet lying next to Gideon's body and checked on the progress of the code. Seeing that it was only seconds away from breaching the last firewall, he felt as if the best thing to do was to destroy the tablet, itself. As such, he took aim with his Ray Gun and fired several shots into the tablet, shattering it. Charizard made certain of its fate by melting its remains into slag. John then checked the rest of the transmitters to make sure that they were still working properly and that the code had not been uploaded. Upon seeing that everything was okay, John knelt down and took out his own tablet and grinned. He had his own plans.

"Team Rocket sought to take over all Pokémon from their Trainers. Now, we'll turn the tables on them by freeing the Pokémon under Team Rocket control."

He then plugged his tablet into the transmitter and input a series of commands. He then waited a few seconds for the final firewall to be breached so he could use the Radio Tower to transmit his own code to Team Rocket. Giovanni and the others would be in for a big surprise in a few seconds. John could only grin and wait as the code did its work.

Back at Pokémon League Headquarters, Ash and his Pokémon team were holding their own against the Legendary Pokémon under the command of Giovanni. Mega Charizard Y had managed to take down Articuno and had also assisted Pikachu in taking down Meloetta. Moltres had been taken down by Blastoise and Donphan, who had used Hydro Pump and Stone Edge, respectively while Venusaur had used Sleep Powder on Zapdos, Latios, and Latias and was punishing them with repeated Sludge Bombs. Snorlax finished off Latios with an Ice Punch while the part Dragon-type was asleep. The two remaining Pokémon would not be asleep for long, though as they quickly awakened and rocketed into the air, Latias managing to avoid Snorlax's subsequent Ice Punch in the process, turning their focus onto Ash's Pokémon team.

"Now, finish them off!" Giovanni cried. "They can't have much more left!"

The three remaining Pokémon nodded and turned to face Ash's team. Despite the fact that they were outnumbered by Ash's Pokémon, Ash's team was worse for the wear, having engaged in multiple battles before being forced to face off against a team of Legendary Pokémon. Each of Ash's Pokémon was breathing heavily, having sustained damage during the fighting.

"Hang in there guys, we still outnumber them," Ash told his team. He then scanned the remaining Legendary Pokémon of Giovanni, each of who had taken a few hits, themselves, but looked to be in better shape than Ash's team. However, they were outnumbered three to one and Ash could concentrate fire on them, with several of Ash's Pokémon having super effective attacks that could be used against each of the Pokémon. "Donphan, you and Snorlax deal with Zapdos, the rest of you, focus on Latias."

Ash's team nodded and then turned to face down Zapdos and Latias. Giovanni then pointed at them and yelled, "Attack! Finish them off now while they're receiving their orders!"

The Legendary Pokémon nodded and turned to face Ash's Pokémon. However, after doing so, they froze, causing Ash and Delia to look up at them in shock. Pikachu and Ash's Pokémon were also shocked at the sight, too. The Legendary Pokémon did not make a move towards Ash and his team. For a moment, Ash considered launching an attack on them, but later thought better of it. He turned his attention to Giovanni, who was looking up at his Legendary Pokémon in shock. His shock quickly turned to rage as he saw that they were simply looking around rather than following his commands.

"What the hell are you two doing?" the Rocket Boss roared. "Attack them now!"

The Legendary Pokémon ignored him and shook their heads for a moment before turning back to face him. Suddenly, Zapdos powered a Thunderbolt and unleashed it towards Giovanni's feet, causing the Rocket Boss to back away in fear. He suddenly realized that he no longer had control over the two Legendaries. Latias then fired a Dragon Pulse, which missed the Rocket Boss by inches, the explosion tossing him through the air, Giovanni landing on his back a few feet away. An expression of horror crossed the Rocket Boss's face as he realized that the Legendary Pokémon were not just free of his command, they had turned on him. Ash was quick to notice this as well.

"Stand down, everyone," he called to them. "Something's happened and it looks to be good for us."

He stood there and watched as Giovanni retreated from the Legendary Pokémon. After a couple more attacks, the Legendary Pokémon took one look at the skylight above them and fired their attacks into it. The attacks shattered the skylight, raining glass down onto the battlefield, and causing Giovanni to retreat further. Once the skylight was broken, the Legendary Pokémon flew up and through the skylight, followed quickly by the Legendary Pokémon that Ash and his team had previously defeated.

Giovanni, meanwhile, fell to his knees as he realized that his entire dream was now destroyed. If the Legendary Pokémon were no longer under his control, then that meant that his plans at the Radio Tower had failed. They had not only failed, but someone else had managed to release the Pokémon under Team Rocket's command as well. He suddenly wondered just how many Pokémon were actually going to be loyal to him. Persian was always his pet, but if Persian ever disagreed with a command, he wondered if the cat-like Pokémon would actually obey him now. What was worse was the fact that the rest of his Pokémon may no longer obey him and if that was the case, then he was doomed, for despite the weapons that the Grunts had, they were no replacement for Pokémon. If anything, they would struggle against a common ordinary armed citizen. He had to make a decision on what to do fast, before Ash, his Pokémon, and Delia came for him.

Giovanni was not the only one in a bind, now. The rest of Team Rocket also had the issue of having their Pokémon be released by John's new code. May, Dawn, Tracey, Professor Oak, and their Pokémon had been fighting a relatively even battle with the Rocket Executives and the Rocket Grunts and Pokémon League members when suddenly, the Rocket Pokémon stopped and looked around for a few seconds. At that moment, the fighting stopped as the Rockets looked at their Pokémon and scowled, furious that they were not continuing the fight.

"What are you fools doing?" they roared, almost in unison. "Get back in the fight!"

At that, several of the Pokémon turned to face the Rockets and attacked them directly, felling said Rockets with their attacks, mostly Sludge Bombs and sometimes Psychic as well. The other Rockets' eyes went wide with shock and horror as they suddenly realized that the code that was supposed to enslave all Trainer owned Pokémon to them had, instead, actually released all of their Pokémon. Now, only the Pokémon that were loyal to Team Rocket of their own volition were still fighting, and they were mostly getting mauled by the new allies of May, Dawn, and the others.

Fortunately, for the Rockets, though, the Pokémon League soldiers still had control of their Pokémon, several of which contained Legendary Pokémon. Still, without help from the Rockets, the battle was a lot more even. May, Dawn, and the others quickly pressed their advantage, doing their best to finish the fight while there was still some confusion in the Pokémon League ranks.

At the same time, not too far away, Mewtwo had been engaging the Lake Guardians when they had been freed by John's code. However, the battle had been less of a battle and more of a slaughter in Mewtwo's favor that had ended mercifully before the Lake Guardians had suffered too much damage. The Lake Guardians had spent the entire battle launching attack after attack on Mewtwo, only for his shield to absorb or reflect it back at them while he responded with a few Aura Spheres, knowing that the Fighting-type attacks were not very effective against the Psychic-type Lake Guardians.

The moment John's code had been transmitted and Team Rocket's Pokémon had been released and the Lake Guardians had stopped fighting, Mewtwo had instantly known that something strange was going on. Sensing the change in the Lake Guardians, he did not press his attack, only waiting to see what they would do. After a few seconds, he scanned them and quickly learned that they were no longer under Giovanni's control. After a few more moments, though, the Lake Guardians sensed something happening below them. Mewtwo extended his own senses and he quickly detected that Ash's friends were still fighting an uphill battle as the Pokémon League had not had their Pokémon released. The Lake Guardians rushed past Mewtwo so they could join the battle and help Ash's friends. That left him free to assist Ash in finally capturing Giovanni, or killing him. As such, he went to make his way to Ash. He attempted to teleport to Ash's location but he quickly sensed a barrier rise that separated him from Ash and he scowled. He could also sense the arrival of Ganondorf, as well as the presence of another. He had to reach Ash quickly, for Ash did not know what he was about to face.

Back on the battlefield, Ash and Delia quickly focused their attention on the Rocket Boss as he was slowly backing away from them. To make matters worse, Ash's Pokémon were stepping forward, readying their attacks, waiting for Ash to give the order to attack Giovanni. Giovanni quickly made his decision to retreat from the battlefield and attempt to make his escape. As he did so, there was an explosion that came from the exit and shrapnel was propelled towards the battlefield, forcing Giovanni to try to find cover.

As soon as Giovanni stood, he found himself staring face to face at a monstrous suit of armor armed with an axe and wrist cannons on both arms. His eyes wide at the sight of the behemoth and he stepped aside as it casually strode forward. Behind the suit of armor was none other than Ganondorf, striding out onto the battlefield. He looked around and saw the sorry state of Giovanni's Pokémon team and the fact that his Legendary Pokémon had abandoned him. However, despite the menacing appearance of Ganondorf and the suit of armor, or perhaps because of it, hope entered Giovanni's heart once more.

"Help me," Giovanni pleaded with the Gerudo King. "The code that was supposed to take control of all Trainer owned Pokémon has been tampered with and has released all Team Rocket owned Pokémon."

Ganondorf smirked. "Obviously," he replied sarcastically. He then looked over at Ash and his Pokémon. "So you are some of the Chosen Heroes," he said, calling out to them. His statement caused Ash to be taken aback. "As are your Pikachu and Charizard," he added casually. He then looked around for a bit and said, "But it seems as if…ah, he's finally here."

Ash and Giovanni did not know what the Gerudo King meant until they saw Mewtwo fly onto the battlefield and land before Ash. Giovanni could not help but notice that Mewtwo was not winded at all. "Ash, you must flee. I'll deal with these threats."

Ganondorf gave a smirk. "I'm afraid I can't allow that, Mewtwo," he told him. His causal way of speaking with Mewtwo caused Giovanni to grow fearful.

"Are you crazy?" he blurted. "That Pokémon just took on three Lake Guardians and doesn't seem any worse for the wear."

"Actually, he casually cast them aside, or would have if John hadn't freed them," Ganondorf corrected. The fact that he seemed to know what had happened to the code caused Giovanni to grow furious.

"Was that part of your plan?"

"Yes," the Gerudo King answered casually. "And you're going to be smart and leave this place now. The battle that is about to take place is too big for you. Quite simply, you're out of your league."

Giovanni was seething as he realized that he was being used as a pawn by Ganondorf the whole time, but he also knew that Mewtwo and Ash were significant threats that he no longer had the power to deal with on his own. Ash such, the Rocket Boss wisely backed away and decided to retreat.

As for Ash, his Pokémon, Delia, and Mewtwo, Ash and his Pokémon friends stepped forward to join Mewtwo in facing down the Gerudo King along with his cohort. "I've heard of you," Ash stated plainly.

"Ah, your father told you about me," Ganondorf surmised. The shocked expression on Ash's face gave him the only answer he needed. "Ah, so it _was_ him. I'll have to have a little talk with him when I see him again. After all, he _is_ my subordinate. But for now, I'll have to deal with you and Mewtwo. As such, I'll give you a one-time offer, the same one I gave to the Iron Knuckle here. Join the Subspace Army, or die."

"I choose Option Three," Ash declared proudly, stepping forward along with his Pokémon.

"And that is?"

"The option where I fight and defeat you!"

Ganondorf merely shrugged. "Very well, then." Just then, he showed the back of his hand to Ash and the others. A triple triangle formed on his gauntlet with the top triangle glowing a bright gold. As blast of energy then erupted from his hand and lashed out at Ash and his party. The blast would have annihilated them had Mewtwo not jumped in front of them and intercepted the attack. His shield flared as the attack hit him and the physical force of the attack pushed him back a few feet away from Ash and his friends. Mewtwo gritted his teeth and grunted as he went to charge forward, only to run into a gold barrier. Ganondorf then disappeared and reappeared behind Ash and the others, facing down Mewtwo directly.

"I cannot let you interfere in Ash's battle against the Iron Knuckle," Ganondorf told Mewtwo calmly. "I really need to test her limits." Mewtwo and Ash were quick to note that Ganondorf had referred to the Iron Knuckle as 'her'. Ganondorf then glanced back at the Iron Knuckle, who had not made a move, and told it, "Iron Knuckle, your orders are to destroy Ash Ketchum and his Pokémon friends."

"What about the woman?" the Iron Knuckle asked in a robotic voice that did have a feminine tinge to it.

"Destroy her only if she interferes."

"Understood," the Iron Knuckle stated, bowing to the Gerudo King. "Good luck against Mewtwo, sir," the suit wished. It then turned to face Ash and his Pokémon friends just as a giant metal door slammed down onto the ground in the middle of the battlefield, separating the two fights. "Your destruction is the will of the great lord Ganondorf. And I will be the instrument of said will."

It then stood up tall, gripping its axe and walked slowly towards Ash, his Pokémon, and his mother. As for Ganondorf, he was already chomping at the bit to test the limits of Mewtwo.

"Despite the fact that my attack pushed you back, had it been anyone else save for a god, that person should have been completely annihilated and erased. As such, I guess that my normal power won't be enough against you. I'll have to up my level a bit."

The moment he said that, he showed Mewtwo the back of his hand, the Triforce mark on it glowing once more. This time, though, the glow was becoming an even more brilliant gold. It took Mewtwo a second to realize that Ganondorf was about to transform into something, but when he did, he immediately shoved his hand forward, releasing a massive Psystrike, the same moment the golden glow from the Triforce of Power encompassed the Gerudo King entirely. The Psystrike collided with the Gerudo King but did not seem to inflict any noticeable damage as Ganondorf was in the midst of his transformation. As such, all Mewtwo could do was raise a shield and wait for the transformation to finish. And when it did, the psychic cat-like Pokémon was no longer facing off against a green skinned man, but a bipedal monstrosity that slightly resembled a pig. One word came into Mewtwo's mind as two glowing energy swords formed in the monster's hand: Ganon. The battle to determine the fate of Ash's family had begun.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

The Iron Knuckle slowly plodded its way towards Ash and his Pokémon, a sword and a shield appearing in each hand of the Iron Knuckle, along a massive axe on its back. Ash steeled himself as the massive suit of armor approached. His Pokémon formed a ring around him and Pikachu was the first to unleash an attack on the Iron Knuckle. Electricity crackled about Pikachu's cheeks as he prepared a Thunderbolt. He then unleashed it on the massive suit of armor, both he and Ash hoping that the electrical attack would short out the armor and freeze the suit in its tracks. The suit, however, saw the attack coming as Pikachu powered the Thunderbolt and raised its shield to intercept the attack. Sure enough, the shield intercepted the attack but the electricity seemed to be absorbed into the shield, for the arcs of electricity seemed to focus on a single point before it disappeared, the power of the Thunderbolt likely being added to either its wrist cannons or to any potential ranged attacks that the sword may have had. Still, the attack gave Ash's other Pokémon into the opening.

Charizard took advantage of the opening and unleashed a massive Fire Blast on the suit of armor. The dragon was uncertain how much damage the Fire Blast would do, but if it was better than nothing, then it would be worth it. The blast of fire collided with the suit of armor and it recoiled from the Fire Blast, taking a couple of steps back. It soon continued its march, though, and stepped forward, powering its way through the flame. However, there was a scorch mark on the front plates of the Iron Knuckle's armor, indicating that the Fire Blast did inflict some damage. However, it would take a lot more to take down the armored suit, which was problematic since Charizard was currently still Mega Evolved and his Drought ability was powering up his Fire-type attacks.

The Iron Knuckle quickly turned to face Charizard. Once it spotted the dragon, it began to charge towards him, its sword held high. Its gate was long but it was still a relatively slow charge as its heavy armor slowed it down. The slowness of the charge gave Charizard ample opportunity to jump into the air and fly, staying out of range of the Iron Knuckle's sword, or so he thought. The Iron Knuckle pointed its sword at Charizard and it began to glow a deep yellow, electricity arcing across the blade. Ash, seeing that, suddenly realized that the Iron Knuckle was channeling the power of Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

"Charizard, dodge now! It's about to use Thunderbolt!" the boy cried out in warning.

Charizard quickly obeyed the boy as he began going evasive, making himself as difficult a target to hit as possible. The Iron Knuckle quickly zeroed in on Charizard and unleashed a beam of electricity on Charizard. Despite the speed of Charizard, the beam managed to arc and tag the Fire/Flying-type Mega Evolved Pokémon. Electricity arced across Charizard's body and the dragon fell from the air, crashing to the ground, Mega Charizard Y reverting back to normal. Still, despite the damage suffered, Charizard was not out of the fight. However, Ash wanted to heal his strongest Pokémon, for he knew that he would need Charizard if he ever wanted to defeat this Iron Knuckle.

He rushed over to Charizard as the Pokémon was rising to continue the battle. "Hold on Charizard, I'm coming!" he called to the dragon.

Charizard turned to him and saw that the boy was coming to heal him, the Max Potion already in Ash's hand. Unfortunately, the Iron Knuckle also noticed Ash headed towards Charizard. Since Ash was its primary target, the Iron Knuckle ignored the other Pokémon and focused on Ash. It sheathed its sword for a second and pointed its right wrist cannon at him. However, before it could fire, Snorlax appeared next to it and threw an Ice Punch at the Iron Knuckle. The punch did not seem to inflict much damage to the suit but it did knock the suit off its target and the Iron Knuckle sent a blue plasma blast wide of Ash and Charizard. The blast missed both by inches and continued, burning a massive hole through the wall, as well as through the wall behind that until it reached outside. The blast looked to be powerful enough to damage, if not pierce, the armor of a Galactic Federation Main Battle Tank. Ash's eyes went wide at the damage inflicted by the beam. He knew that if any of his Pokémon were hit by such a beam, they would suffer severe injury if not die from it, even the more durable Pokémon like Blastoise or Snorlax.

As for the Iron Knuckle, it did not take Snorlax's distraction lying down. It quickly turned to the Pokémon and performed a roundhouse kick on him, the kick connecting with Snorlax's head. The kick sent Snorlax flying several feet through the air, the Pokémon crashing to the ground, leaving an indent, and rolling along the ground for several meters until it stopped. Snorlax was slow to rise from the attack, but rise it eventually did. Unfortunately, it also drew the attention of the Iron Knuckle, who turned to unleash another plasma blast towards Snorlax. Fortunately, though, Blastoise rushed to Snorlax's aid, standing in front of Snorlax and withdrawing into his shell. He then jumped and used Rapid Spin, hoping to spread the energy all over his shell so that he would survive the attack. His plan seemed to work as he spun around as the plasma blast struck him, sending him flying into Snorlax. Still, the blast was not sufficient to pierce Blastoise's shell, though it did heat the shell to the point where Blastoise had to quickly fire a Hydro Pump into the air so the water could rain down on him so that his internal organs would not cook inside his now superheated shell. The two Pokémon stared at the Iron Knuckle in obvious fear, realizing that if something were not done soon, they would all be destroyed. Fortunately, help was on the way in the form of Venusaur.

Venusaur, knowing that Sludge Bomb and Sleep Powder would be useless, decided that the best thing he could do was to fire off his strongest attack: Solar Beam. He fired a Solar Beam straight at the scorch mark inflicted by Charizard's Fire Blast. It scored a direct hit on the Iron Knuckle and sent it staggering back a few steps. The Iron Knuckle quickly turned to face Venusaur and kill him but Donphan had other ideas, using Rapid Spin to plow into the massive suit of armor. The Iron Knuckle saw the attack coming, though, and managed to raise its shield to intercept Donphan. However, that was only part of the plan, for Blastoise had quickly recovered and fired an Ice Beam from just behind Donphan. The moment Donphan had collided with the shield, he bounced off and the Ice Beam quickly followed, striking the shield. Much as the Pokémon had suspected, the shield was not designed to absorb freezing energy and ice spred out from the point of impact, eventually freezing the entire shield. That was when Donphan curled into a ball once more and rocketed towards the frozen shield. He collided with the shield and the metal shield shattered into several pieces, being rendered useless to the Iron Knuckle.

The Iron Knuckle then kicked Donphan away from it, the kick sending him flying, but he did not suffer much damage from the kick and he was still spinning as he landed and uncurled himself. The Iron Knuckle quickly discarded its shield and pulled out something that looked like a sword hilt without the blade. It then pushed a button and a rainbow colored blade sprang into existence, the Pokémon quickly realizing that this battle was far from over. The Iron Knuckle then charged towards Donphan, intending to bisect the Pokémon as it held its swords high, the metallic blade beginning to glow as electricity began arcing over the blade.

Blastoise tried to intercept the suit of armor with a Hydro Pump attack, but all the streams of water managed to do was slow it down as it waded through the attack in order to reach Donphan. However, the Hydro Pump did allow Donphan to retreat from the suit of armor and ready a Stone Edge attack. The stones rose from the ground and orbited the Ground-type Pokémon for a second before Donphan had them form a wall of stone, hoping that the wall would do more damage than a series of smaller stones. He then sent the wall of stones flying towards the Iron Knuckle, only for the Iron Knuckle to cut it to shards of small pebbles as the other stones were sent wide of the suit while kicking other stones back at Donphan. The reflected stones did not inflict much damage to Donphan, but it did allow the Iron Knuckle to focus on Blastoise and Snorlax.

The suit of armor raised its metallic sword once more and electricity arced across its blade once again. It then pointed the blade at Blastoise the same instant as Pikachu rejoined the fight and fired a Thunderbolt at the sword, hoping to overcharge the blade and short it out. While his Thunderbolt did not overcharge the blade, it did manage to divert the electric attack away from Blastoise and into the wall at a ninety-degree angle from the Iron Knuckle. That was when Ash and Charizard rejoined the fight.

Ash proceeded to charge the Iron Knuckle, Charizard covering him with a volley of Air Slash blades rushing towards the suit of armor. The Iron Knuckle raised his Beam Sword and used it to deflect the Air Slash. That was when Ash reached the Iron Knuckle and lowered his shoulder, hoping to knock the suit of armor off its feet. He charged the suit and rammed into it, shoulder first. His charge managed to knock the suit of armor a few feet off course and cause it to stagger in order to keep its balance. While it was standing on one leg, Ash ducked down and performed a leg sweep in order to try to knock it down so that it would hopefully drop one of its swords, preferably the Beam Sword since it looked like it could inflict damage to the armored suit. However, when his foot connected with the armored suit's leg, the suit did not budge. In fact, Ash's foot began to feel sore and he suddenly realized that he was lucky that he did not break his foot or ankle against the metal of the suit.

The Iron Knuckle retaliated by swinging its metal sword towards the boy, forcing him to dodge out of the way of the slash. The slash missed Ash by inches as his Pokémon unleashed more attacks on the armored suit. Ash rolled along the floor and quickly rose into a crouch as he turned around to face the suit of armor. It was now that he wished that he had a firearm of some sort more than ever. However, he was not without any weapons. He gripped one of his Poké Balls and took aim at the Iron Knuckle's head, hoping that it would daze whoever was inside the suit, assuming there was anyone inside. He then tossed the ball at the Iron Knuckle, the ball colliding wit the suit's head, causing it to recoil but it inflicted no damage. It did not even seem to affect the Iron Knuckle all that much in the grand scheme of things. The Iron Knuckle then took aim with its wrist blasters and prepared to fire on Ash. That was when Charizard and Venusaur unleashed a Fire Blast and Solar Beam respectively on the Iron Knuckle, the force of the attacks causing it to stagger backwards several steps, the attacks inflicting noticeable damage on the armor as it sparked at the points of impact. Ash could even see some of the armor begin to warp and glow around the area where the Fire Blast had struck, which was the same area where the initial Fire Blast had hit. However, the attacks were insufficient to inflict critical damage to the suit and it kept coming, unleashing two plasma blasts in Ash's direction, which gouged two massive craters into the battlefield. Fortunately, Ash had moved several meters away from the target area of the blasters and had avoided meeting a quick end.

The rest of the Pokémon then unleashed their own attacks on the Iron Knuckle as a team. Snorlax was the first to enter the fray, unleashing an Ice Punch on the suit of armor, the Pokémon connecting with the punch. However, the punch only knocked the suit of armor back a few steps, not even managing to cool the superheated metal from Charizard's Fire Blast attacks, which allowed the suit of armor to take a swipe with its metallic sword at Snorlax. Snorlax managed to catch the blade arm and prevent it from bisecting him but the Iron Knuckle still had its Beam Sword hand free. It prepared to bring its Beam Sword down onto Snorlax and bisect the Pokémon right down the middle when Blastoise unleashed a Hydro Pump targeting the Beam Sword's hilt, itself, the turtle-like Pokémon feeling that if it did not deactivate the Beam Sword, it would hopefully knock it from the armored suit's grasp.

Much as the Water-type Pokémon had hoped, the streams of water scored direct hits on the Beam Sword's hilt and on the Iron Knuckle's hand, the attacks knocking the Beam Sword out of the armored suit's hand, the sword retreating as it left the hand of the massive suit of armor. Blastoise was joined by Pikachu and Donphan, the two Pokémon unleashing a barrage of Thunderbolts and Stone Edge, respectively. The suit of armor raised its remaining sword to try to block the attacks. It managed to block the Thunderbolt, electricity arcing along the blade, and then it sent it back at Donphan, who was unaffected by the Electric-type attack, the suit's actions being very noticeable to Ash and the Pokémon.

As for Ash, he quickly rushed over to the discarded Beam Sword while the Iron Knuckle was distracted by his Pokémon and picked it up, pushing the button to activate it. He then proceeded to rejoin his Pokémon in facing down the suit of armor and fighting it. However, the suit of armor decided that it had had enough of Ash and focused on dealing with the young teen at the exclusion of his Pokémon.

The monstrous suit of armor charged Ash, running noticeably faster than it had before with the shield, and performed a roundhouse kick on him, connecting with the boy's sternum and sent him flying into the force field. The force field rippled as he slammed into it and fell to the ground. Ash was dazed for a few seconds from the impact with the force field and took a moment to get his bearings, only to see the massive suit rushing over and, pulling back its sword so it could stab him and finish him off. Ash dodged as the suit thrust its sword forward, the sword missing and striking the force field. Ash then rose swung down with his Beam Sword and cut the Iron Knuckle's sword close to the hilt, rendering it useless. It discarded its broken hilt and drew its axe from behind its back. As it drew its axe, an orange glow began to surround the axe blade. It then swung at Ash with all of its might. The boy barely managed to duck underneath the blow, the axe imbedding itself into the floor. A Fire Blast, Thunderbolt, Solar Beam, Ice Beam, and a series of large stones from Stone Edge then struck the suit of armor in the back and it staggered several steps forward, recoiling from the attacks.

Ash attempted to take advantage of the distraction provided by his Pokémon team and drive the point of the Beam Sword through the armor, but the armor was too strong for a single strike to pierce. While the sword seemed to penetrate one layer of the armor, the other second layer managed to stop the sword before it could pierce it all the way through. The Iron Knuckle responded by releasing its right hand from the axe and turning to grab Ash. After grabbing the boy by the throat, it lifted him up and hurled him across the room, Ash crashing into the floor and skidding along it, eventually coming to a stop. The suit then grabbed the still active Beam Sword and pulled it out of it. For a moment, the suit seemed to go silent, as if the damage done by the sword, in addition to the damage suffered while fighting the Pokémon the seemed to interrupt its ability to function properly. But the suit soon shook off the effects and decided to return Ash his Beam Sword via airmail. The sword sailed through the air, it's target, Ash's head. He barely dodged the sword and it stabbed into the wall and it deactivated and the hilt fell to the floor.

Meanwhile, Ash realized that he needed to finish this fight quickly, for he could see that his Pokémon were tiring and would not last much longer. He gripped the Beam Sword hilt once more and activated it. He then rushed the Iron Knuckle and launched his assault on it, striking the suit of armor repeatedly in the areas that had been weakened by his Pokémon's attacks, particularly Charizard's Fire Blast and Venusaur's Solar Beam. Each attack did little damage, but all of them together seemed to be adding up. The Iron Knuckle turned its attention towards Ash and swung at him wildly. It was easy for him to dodge. The Iron Knuckle then tried to bring its axe down upon his head. He dove out of the way of the attack and the axe inflicted a large gash into the floor and was stuck in the floor as a result.

While the Iron Knuckle was trying to pull it out, Ash was busy hacking away at the suit with the Beam Sword, his Pokémon also unleashing attacks of their own on the suit, inflicting even more damage to the suit of armor. Ash quickly charged to the rear and began hacking at the suit's rear armor, while his Pokémon focused on the suit's front. Each strike produced a slight red glow and some sparks from the suit. With each strike, the suit suffered more and more damage, real damage as he noticed that the suit was having difficulty reacting to his attacks.

By the time the barrage from the Pokémon was finished and Ash took a moment to catch his breath, the Iron Knuckle was looking very ragged. The suit had numerous outer breaches and was sustaining more and more damage due to Ash and his Pokémon team's attacks. He figured that it wouldn't be long now before they actually managed to fell the Iron Knuckle and be able to go after Giovanni. Each attack seemed to have more of an effect on the suit of armor. With each strike, Ash now saw sparks erupting from the point of impact with the energy blade and armor. Each attack seemed to slow the suit of armor, causing its wild swings to be much less powerful.

After two more slashes, the Iron Knuckle's armor was in tatters. It was also having difficulty moving. The time to finish it off had come. He stood directly in front of the damaged suit and prepared for the final attack. The Iron Knuckle readied its axe but Ash brought down his Beam Sword onto its handle, the energy blade slicing cleanly through the axe handle, causing the blade to fall onto the floor. The boy then pulled back his sword and thrust it into the chest of the Iron Knuckle. The sword pierced the suit of armor, the armor glowing a bright orange as the sword pierced it. It did not go in very far, but it appeared as if it did not need to, for the Iron Knuckle let out a deep roar as it spread its arms out and collapsed onto its knees.

Then something happened that Ash did not expect. The armor began to break off. Piece after piece separated from the suit and fell to the floor. First the helmet broke into four pieces and fell to the floor, then the chest plate and armor over the arms, then the legs fell to pieces. In the midst of this, Ash could make out a figure keeling on the ground inside the suit of armor that was breaking off. The figure was that of a girl, no older than thirteen. Her right hand was placed over her chest and her left hand was on her left knee, as if she were trying to keep herself from completely collapsing to the floor. Ash noticed a dark purple aura around the girl but that did not hide the fact that she was wearing a blue tank top and red miniskirt, the same clothing that Mia was wearing when Team Rocket had captured her. After the suit of fallen off completely, the girl in the suit was revealed. Ash was shocked when he felt his twin bond flare into existence. The girl was none other than his sister, Mia Ketchum.

He went to rush over to her when he found that something was horribly wrong. The girl slowly stood and faced Ash. Ash could now see that the aura completely surrounded her and seemed to darken her appearance, for her clothing seemed darker, though that was likely due to the effects of the purple fiery aura. She looked at him blankly before her expression became stern.

"Lord Ganondorf has ordered your destruction," she told him in a cold voice. "And it shall be accomplished now." She then looked around at Ash's Pokémon, who were shocked to find that the Iron Knuckle was Mia, but were also exhausted and were struggling to stay standing, having spent so much energy in the previous battle. "But not like this," she amended. She then focused her gaze on Ash and told him, "Use your healing items to heal yourself and your Pokémon. Then we shall end this as it should be: our teams fighting one another as teams in a full battle."

Ash could only grin and hope entered his heart once more. Something of Mia did still remain in that girl. "You're on," he answered enthusiastically.

He then went over to his Pokémon and administered Full Restores and Max Elixirs to them, wanting them to be at full strength when they faced off against Mia and her Pokémon team, whatever Pokémon the team would consist of, for he could not see her Pokémon friends willingly serving an evil man like Ganondorf, especially if he were ordering them to work with Team Rocket. As he went over to them, he went over his plan.

"Okay everyone, listen carefully. Mia's Pokémon team is bound to be powerful. Now, when you faced her, you attacked her while taking orders from me. I have a feeling that this may be a full battle in every sense of the word. You'll be fighting without my orders, so here's the plan. Pikachu and I will focus on Mia. He's got a Light Ball and that magic was able to disrupt the power of the Magic Lord spell over some of you and the other Pokémon earlier. I'm hoping that the same thing'll happen here, or even better, it'll completely dispel the aura. Everyone else, pick your targets due to type advantage. That way you won't have to focus too much on using a complicated strategy. Don't hesitate to gang up on strong Pokémon and be careful of her team. They have been trained to fight without her giving orders."

The Pokémon nodded and gave cries of approval and encouragement. Ash then sighed before finishing, "Everyone, this is gonna be the fight of our lives, and the most difficult battle we've ever fought. And the stakes couldn't be any higher. This is the real deal. This isn't for a trophy or accolades. This is for my sister and her Pokémon team. To that end, win and also survive the battle. That is my command."

The Pokémon nodded and gave more cries of approval. After healing his team, he then rose and turned to face Mia. "I'm ready when you are. Send out your first Pokémon."

Mia merely stared at him, her dark expression not changing as she answered, "This is a full battle Ash Ketchum. All Pokémon are to be deployed to the battlefield at once. Beyond that, there are no rules."

Ash gritted his teeth. He had suspected that it would be a full team battle, but he had been holding out hope that it would be a normal full battle, rather than each team engaging the other all at the same time. There was also the issue that she specified no rules. Who knew what her strategy would be when she and her team could fight dirty.

"Okay everyone, it's time," she declared. "Join the fight!"

She then held out her left arm, which had a gauntlet with five shrunken Poké Balls on it and Ash suddenly grew very concerned. She took off the Poké Balls, two at a time, and tossed them into the air. The Poké Balls opened and revealed the same team that she had used against him in the Championship battle, minus Tyranitar: Venusaur, Starmie, Garchomp, Chandelure, and Jolteon. Ash looked over at the Pokémon and saw that they, too, had the same purple fiery aura surrounding them, too. Ash then called his team over to him.

"Change of plan guys. Pikachu, you're going to fight with the others. Your job is to shock all of the other Pokémon from the word go. Hopefully, that'll free them from that aura and they'll be able to join us. After that, you'll be able to help me against Mia. As for Garchomp, I know he's immune to Electric-type attacks. Pikachu, use Iron Tail on him and hope that your power up from Light Ball has the desired effect. If not, we just may have to KO him and shock him while he's fainted. Everyone get that?"

The Pokémon answered in the affirmative.

"Then go!" Ash cried, pointing his team at Mia's Pokémon team.

"Engage!" Mia called curtly in counterpoint, snapping her fingers and pointing at Ash's team. Ash could not help but smile. Something of his sister still remained and whatever aura seemed to be controlling her did not have full control. Perhaps there was still hope. He glanced at her Pokémon team and hoped that they seemed to be resisting the same way Mia was. Unfortunately, they merely had the blank stern faces that Mia currently had as she rushed towards him.

Mia started the fight by attempting to perform a roundhouse kick on Ash's head, something he knew was suicidal in a real fight against an opponent with any amount of real skill. Ash easily ducked the kick and responded with a leg sweep, ducking down and sweeping his leg in an attempt to knock his sister off her feet. Mia ducked down, however, and intercepted his attack. She then retaliated with an open palm strike to his chest that he was unable to deflect. She scored a direct hit on him, the strike forcing the air out of his lungs as he was shoved back several feet. She then rushed in and performed a side kick to his chest, knocking the staggered boy onto his back. Ash landed with a thud and looked up at his sister. Any sign that Mia was still in there or seemed to be fighting the controlling force behind her body was absent. Looking over and seeing his Pokémon team having issues of its own against Mia's Pokémon, Ash quickly realized that he would have to fight her for real. He could not afford to hold back against her like he did in his Championship tie breaker fight. This time, he had to fight her for real, for Mia was certainly going to do her best to kill him, and if her current level of skill under the control of another was anywhere close to what it was in their previous fight, Ash had an uphill battle.

As for Ash's Pokémon team, Pikachu led the charge against the rest of Mia's team. With Tyranitar assisting May, Dawn, and the others, Pikachu and friends outnumbered Mia's team six to five. However, the electric mouse knew that numbers meant very little when dealing with a Champion's team. His biggest asset was the fact that they were under some form of mind control and may not have been fighting at full potential.

Remembering Ash's battle plan for him and the others, he opened the battle by targeting Mia's Venusaur, hoping that if he could use a Light Ball powered Thunderbolt to free him of enemy control, that Venusaur would be able to help them deal with the rest of Mia's team. As his cheeks were crackling with electricity, though, Garchomp quickly jumped forward and landed right in front of Venusaur. Pikachu unleashed his Thunderbolt on the land shark Pokémon, only for it to not affect her at all. Electricity arced across Garchomp's body but it inflicted no damage. Even worse, it did nothing to interfere with whatever force was controlling Garchomp. The only up side was that Pikachu had his answer. He would have to go with Plan B in dealing with Garchomp, something that he did not relish at all.

Pikachu charged towards Garchomp, only for Venusaur to unleash a cloud of Sleep Powder towards him. Charizard covered Pikachu with a Flamethrower attack, incinerating the cloud. Garchomp was then divided on whom she should deal with first. She had a feeling that Pikachu's Iron Tail could at the very least damage her, if not do something even worse to her, but Charizard also had the potential to be trouble since he could incinerate Venusaur's Sleep Powder cloud and allow Pikachu to deal with the rest of the team.

Pikachu tried to charge towards Garchomp once more, only to be intercepted by Jolteon, Starmie, and Chandelure, each one launching an attack of their own: Jolteon unleashing a Pin Missile barrage, Starmie using Hydro Pump, and Chandelure using Fire Blast. Before the attacks could hit Pikachu, though, a Hydro Pump from Blastoise intercepted Chandelure's Fire Blast and extinguished it, the resulting explosion creating a massive cloud of steam. Meanwhile, Donphan used Stone Edge to create a stone barrier around Pikachu that intercepted Jolteon's Pin Missile and would hopefully slow down Starmie's Hydro Pump. The needles of Jolteon's Pin Missile bounced off of the Stone Edge shield surrounding the electric rodent. However, the Hydro Pump proved to be more effective, the water first crashing against the stones, but the stones budged with the first impact and looked to be listing inward. Pikachu quickly retreated, jumping over the stones behind him just as the water came rushing through, washing away part of the Stone Edge barrier and crashing against the stones to the rear. The electric mouse, however, managed to be well out of the path of Starmie's Hydro Pump before it came through the barrier. Pikachu could tell that targeting Garchomp would be next to impossible as long as the rest of the team was covering him. However, that also gave him the opportunity to hopefully neutralize whatever force was controlling the Pokémon.

Garchomp went on the offensive again, this time readying a Stone Edge barrage for Pikachu. However, as the stones were orbiting the land shark Pokémon, Blastoise used Ice Beam to freeze the stones into a ring of ice, which fell onto the battlefield and surrounded Garchomp. It would not be enough to keep the Pokémon trapped, but it served its purpose as Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt on Starmie as it was using Psychic on Ash's Venusaur, a blue field of energy surrounding the Pokémon as it lifted him off the floor.

The electric attack scored a direct hit on Starmie and electricity arced across its body, but that was not the only thing that happened. As the electricity arced across Starmie's body, inflicting major damage to Starmie in the process, the dark aura instantly vanished. Gold orbs of appeared on Starmie's body for a brief instant before scattering away from the body and disintegrating. Pikachu figured that those orbs were originally almost certainly the same color as the aura that surrounded the Pokémon. They then saw Starmie's core flickering on and off, indicating that it was on the verge of fainting. Still, hope reentered the hearts of Ash's Pokémon and Pikachu could not wait to rescue Mia's Pokémon team so he could help Ash beat Mia. Venusaur also landed safely and cautiously approached the nearly fainted Starmie. Starmie looked to be back to normal at least in coloration. It no longer had the purple aura surrounding it. Still, Ash's team did not know whether or not that meant that Starmie was truly free.

They would get their answer soon, though, for Mia's Venusaur quickly spotted the now free Starmie and powered an Energy Ball, its target: Starmie. Starmie slowly rose only to notice the Energy Ball headed its way. It quickly fired off an Ice Beam to intercept the attack, the explosion between the two attacks throwing the starfish-like Pokémon several feet into the air, Starmie using what was left of is strength to telekinetically keep itself from uncontrollably crashing to the ground. Pikachu and the others had their answer and that was when Pikachu went to work.

The electric mouse quickly targeted the next closest Pokémon of Mia's: Chandelure and fired off another Thunderbolt. Chandelure was not caught unawares, though, and countered with a Fire Blast. The electric attack collided with the stick figure shaped blast of fire and the two attacks were suspended in midair for a moment before the Fire Blast began pushing back on Pikachu's Thunderbolt. However, Blastoise and Starmie would quickly come to Pikachu's aid, the two Pokémon covering Pikachu using Hydro Pump to neutralize the Fire Blast.

As the two water attacks extinguished the blast of flame, a tremendous explosion of steam erupted from the center of the blast, the steam cloud obscuring Pikachu and Chandelure from one another. However, Pikachu's Thunderbolt was now able to travel uncontested to Chandelure, who while fast for a Chandelure, could not dodge a lightning bolt. The bolt of electricity scored a direct hit against Chandelure and, just as with Starmie, a golden sheen shown around the Pokémon that congealed into yellow glowing balls that fell, or rather fled, off of Chandelure, only to disintegrate after a few seconds. Chandelure then fell to the floor, managing to keep itself from crashing. The ghostly chandelier not sustaining anywhere close to the damage of Starmie, but the attack had done its job. Chandelure was now free of whatever force was controlling it. All Pikachu had to do was save the other three Pokémon. Pikachu then turned his attention to Venusaur. While Venusaur resisted electricity, it was still affected by it, something that Jolteon and Garchomp were not so Pikachu wanted to deal with Venusaur first, despite Venusaur being Mia's strongest Pokémon.

As for Venusaur, he quickly focused his attention on Pikachu, powering a Solar Beam. Pikachu began to think that Venusaur may have been resisting the control, for this was a foolish move to use without Drought coming into play since Solar Beam took a long time to charge where there was not a lot of sunlight. As such, Pikachu quickly fired a Thunderbolt at Venusaur, scoring a direct hit. Just as with Chandelure and Starmie, a golden glow surrounded the Pokémon as electricity arced across its body. The glow then congealed into a number of yellow glowing orbs that fled Venusaur's body, only to disintegrate a few seconds later. After Venusaur was freed, he looked around to take stock of the situation. Pikachu and the others did not relax, though, for there were two more Pokémon that needed to be freed: Jolteon and Garchomp, and both of those Pokémon were immune to electricity. However, given how it seemed as if whatever was controlling the Pokémon was an infection rather than an external force that could be disrupted, something that a few growls from Mia's Venusaur confirmed, then simply defeating them could be sufficient to drive them out of the Pokémon and allow them to be finished off by Pikachu's Light Ball enhanced Thunderbolt.

Ash's team and the freed Pokémon quickly turned to face down Garchomp. Since none of the Pokémon on Ash's side were Dark-type, Chandelure and Starmie simply used Psychic to raise the Pokémon off the floor while Donphan used Earthquake. The elephant-like Pokémon stomped the ground and rings of energy were sent coursing through the battlefield. Ash and Mia were sent staggering backwards, struggling to maintain their balance while Jolteon took the full brunt of the Earthquake. The Earthquake was sufficient to stagger Jolteon but did not finish him off. As for Garchomp, the Earthquake only did moderate damage to the land shark Pokémon. However, Jolteon did not only have to face an Earthquake.

Blastoise also got in on the action, unleashing an Ice Beam on Garchomp, whose movements were now being restricted by Starmie and Chandelure since the Earthquake had finished and the ground was now safe for the Pokémon to stand on once more. Blastoise's Ice Beam scored a direct hit on Garchomp and inflicted significant damage on the Pokémon. However, it was not sufficient to cause Garchomp to faint. Blastoise then fired another Ice Beam at Garchomp, scoring another direct hit on the immobilized Pokémon. This one was sufficient to take down the land shark, the Pokémon falling to the floor, swirls in her eyes.

The moment Garchomp fell to the ground, the nature of the purple aura was revealed as the aura congealed into a number of dark purple orbs that fled from the fainted Pokémon. The orbs quickly sought out another host and fled towards Mia's Venusaur. Pikachu did not let them get far, though, as he unleashed a Light Ball powered Thunderbolt on the dark orbs, that Venusaur had told them were known as Shadow Bugs. The Thunderbolt struck the Shadow Bugs and they were engulfed in a yellow glow for a few seconds as they were disintegrated by the glow. With Garchomp free, that meant that only Jolteon was still under the control of the Shadow Bugs, and thus, Ganondorf.

As for Jolteon, the Earthquake that he had taken had inflicted significant damage on the Pokémon but had not been enough to finish him off. Jolteon quickly scanned the area for Blastoise and powered a Thunderbolt, hoping to take down the Water-type Pokémon. However, the powering of the bolt of lightning was slow and gave Charizard a chance to unleash a Fire Blast on the Electric-type Pokémon. The Fire Blast collided with Jolteon before he was ready to fire the Thunderbolt, Charizard strongly suspecting that the slow charge of the Thunderbolt was due to Jolteon resisting the Shadow Bugs as he unleashed the Fire Blast on him. The blast of fire scored a direct hit on Jolteon and was sufficient to take down Jolteon. The moment Jolteon fell, the Shadow Bugs quickly fled the fainted Pokémon. As soon as they had departed the fainted Electric-type, Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt on them and disintegrated them with one firing.

As soon as the final batch of Shadow Bugs had been destroyed, the Pokémon scanned their surroundings to make sure that were no trace of Shadow Bugs remaining. When they saw no sign of any surviving Shadow Bugs, they turned their attention to the battle between Ash and Mia, where Mia was kicking the snot out of her twin brother.

Back at the fight, or rather slaughter, of Ash by Mia, Ash was not even close to holding his own against his sister, despite the fact that his sister was under the control of Shadow Bugs. He felt his twin bond flare with her, but he also felt that the real Mia did not know what that feeling was. She also still believed him to be an enemy and that the Shadow Bugs were using her skills and abilities to allow her to defeat him since he knew all of her moves and could use that against her. Ash had not wanted to fight her but she was giving him little choice.

Ash soon decided that it was time to go on offense. Despite the fact that he could not use his twin bond to intercept her punches and kicks, he was able to see a pattern in how Shadow Mia, his new term for her due to her dark aura, moved. He found that she left an opening around her legs, something that was terrible for a fighter since if the legs were injured, the fight was over, he decided to throw a side kick to her legs. Since Mia was not offering any real resistance to the aura's control over her body, her speed and agility were only slightly affected. Still, she was more than quick enough to knock away Ash's kick and respond with a kick to his own knees.

Ash barely managed to parry the kick so that it missed his knee, but it was parried into his shin, which meant that when it made contact with him, it still hurt a great deal. He gave a cry of pain and jumped on one leg before falling to the ground, clutching his right leg. He rolled away as he waited for the pain to abate. While this would have ended a fight on the streets where the object was to walk away, Shadow Mia had no intentions of letting it end here. However, there was still some sense of honor, or something, about Shadow Mia, for she did not press her advantage. She must have wanted to take him down while he was standing. As such, she waited for her brother to recover enough so that he could stand up to face her. Once he had stood up and was able to stand stably, she assumed her fighter's stance once more and waited for him to launch his next strike.

Ash quickly went on the offensive, rushing her and throwing a fist at her head. She tilted her head to the right and allowed the fist to sail by on her left. Ash then threw another punch at her abdomen, which the girl avoided just as easily as she took a step to her right. Ash then launched a flurry of punches and kicks that Shadow Mia easily parried, swatted away, or just plain avoided. She then raised her right hand and slapped Ash across the face twice in the most insulting way a fighter could.

Ash rubbed his face, his face stinging from the slaps but it was his pride that was hurting him more. He was not holding back against her and she was treating him as a joke. Even more embarrassing for the boy was the fact that Mia was not fighting at her full potential since whatever force was controlling her still had to move her body, which would slow down certain actions. He finally began to realize just how much Mia had been holding back in their previous fight. If she had actually been serious against him, there was no way that he would have won. Still, he knew that he had to win this fight. This was not just about getting past her so he could intercept Giovanni, it was about saving his sister. To that end, he reengaged her, praying that somehow a miracle would occur and that he could defeat her and save her from whatever force was controlling her.

He rushed her again, preparing to make like he was about to punch her only to throw a kick when she rushed him in counter, shoving her elbow into his throat. Ash reflexively grabbed his throat as he gagged, gasping for air. A side kick from the girl then knocked the boy onto his back, still gasping for air. Shadow Mia then went over to Ash and stood over him. She reached down and picked up a discarded Beam Sword and ignited the blade, the rainbow colored blade quickly coming to life. Just as she was about to stab Ash, a pulse of green light passed her head, missing her by a few feet, and struck the force field behind Ash, accompanied by a loud pop. Shadow Mia turned and found Delia Ketchum, struggling to stand and keep her Ray Gun level as she took aim at her own daughter.

"Stop this Mia. He's your brother," Delia called out to her daughter.

Shadow Mia merely turned and readied her Beam Sword, raising it in a defensive position so that she could intercept the Ray Gun blasts. Still, Ash did not think that Delia would fire on Mia, even in a non-fatal area like the arms or legs since she was loathe to hurt her own daughter and the previous blast's miss had clearly been intentional. However, Shadow Mia did not notice Pikachu coming up from behind Ash, preparing a Thunderbolt. As such, Delia fired a couple more shots as she stood up, these shots still missing Mia, but missing from much closer to the teenaged girl. Ash could tell that these were mere distractions.

Mia then stopped and looked quizzically at Delia. A moment's hesitation came to the girl as she stopped, but she then turned back to Ash and approached him as he was rubbing his throat, the boy able to breathe once more but was in no condition to fight. Her gaze narrowed in on her brother for a second before they flashed and she tried to bring her Beam Sword to her right in order to intercept an attack. Unfortunately, for Shadow Mia, she was not quick enough and Pikachu's surprise Thunderbolt struck her directly in the chest. Electricity arced across her body as she fell to her knees and placed her hands on the ground to keep herself from falling further, the purple and black, now golden, aura congealed into a large number of Shadow Bugs that fled from Mia's body, too late to save themselves as they disintegrated mere seconds later. The newly freed Mia's head then slumped over as she stared at the ground.

Ash quickly rose and went over to his sister. When he reached her, he looked down at her and, seeing that she was looking around in a disoriented fashion, he said, "Mia, don't worry. It's over now."

Mia looked up at Ash, a quizzical expression on her face, seemingly wondering whom the boy that was talking to her was and why she was here. "Who are you? Where am I?" She then paused before asking another question. "Who am I?"

Ash gave a sigh and looked at her quizzically for a second. He had remembered her being hit by Azelf's special ability, which would have sapped her willpower. He then remembered the dream that he had had where Mia had escaped Team Rocket, only to be taken by Ganondorf. He then wondered if the Pendant of Memories that had restored his memories, as well as those of his mother's, would work on her. For a second, he was concerned that using the Pendant might have reactivated the effects of Azelf's special ability if what the dream about her escape from Team Rocket indicated was true. Still, he decided to risk it and he went to place the pendant around her neck. However, the girl recoiled.

"What is that?" she asked sternly, her gaze narrowing in on Ash. He could not help but smile. Her personality was intact.

"This will help you remember who you are," Ash answered.

"Ganondorf said that, too," Mia countered. "And all that got me was some Shadow Bugs taking control of me with me coming no closer to determining who I am and why I can fight the way I do."

"This will," Ash answered in a kind, calming voice.

Mia continued to study him but could feel deep within her soul that this boy was different from Ganondorf. She then lowered her head and told him, "I trust you. Do it."

Ash then placed the pendant around Mia's neck and, just as had happened with him and their mother, Mia fell asleep, Ash catching her in his arms. He gently lowered her to the ground and watched her sleep as Delia came over to check on her daughter.

"How is she?" Delia asked.

"She's fine, just sleeping," Ash answered.

"How long will she remain that way?"

"I don't know," Ash answered shrugging and shaking his head. "When I was cured, it took several hours. When I did it with you, it only took a few minutes. I don't know where Mia will fall in that spectrum since her actions were due to the Shadow Bugs and not her own will or memories."

Delia looked down at Mia and then back at Ash. "Ash, you and your team have to go after Giovanni. I'll care for Mia and any of her Pokémon friends that fainted."

Ash was shocked at his mother's statement, which was issued more like an order than as a suggestion.

"I mean it Ash," Delia reiterated.

"But…" Ash began.

"No buts," Delia stated, cutting him off. "I'll make sure that nothing happens to her. But Giovanni must be stopped now. Mewtwo's busy with that other figure and your friends are all fighting battles of their own. You're the only one who can reach Giovanni." She then handed Ash her Ray Gun. "Take this. It'll help you on your mission."

"But what about you?" Ash asked, staring into his mother's eyes. "Ganondorf and Mewtwo are fighting a few meters away, and the only protection is that force field, which I don't think will hold."

"Giovanni is a threat to this family," Delia explained. "He must be stopped now!"

"Right," Ash said nodding, trusting his mother to be able to protect Mia once he saw how determined she was.

Ash then turned to pursue Giovanni. As he was running, he heard his mother call after him, "Ash, when you find Giovanni, kill him! He is politically connected and if he is merely captured, he could be freed by his political connections before he rolls on them. And if he escapes, he'll come after our family again. So when you find him, just kill him."

"Don't worry Mom," Ash said with grim determination. "When I find Giovanni, I'll end this, once and for all."

And as soon as he had finished saying that, he turned around and continued to charge after Giovanni. The boss of Team Rocket would not escape this time.

During Ash's fight with Mia, Giovanni rushed down the hallway as fast as he could. As he ran, he stopped at each keypad marking each sector, making certain to activate all of the security protocols that he could, activating all of the Pokémon League Headquarters' defenses and sealing all sectors that led to the landing platform on top of the base. Thick steel doors slammed into place as Giovanni ran through the corridor. It was his hope that these doors would slow down anyone who was pursuing him.

After making his way through the long corridor, he came to another corridor that led to a stairwell that led to the roof. In the corridor were three Rockets wearing black uniforms. They were Elite Agents that were said to be some of Team Rocket's strongest members next to the Executives. In their uniforms, they were difficult to distinguish save for that one of them had dark hair and another had longer hair. Giovanni was greatly relieved when he came upon the Rockets. When the Rockets noticed him, they stood at attention and saluted him.

"What are your orders, sir?" they asked in unison.

"Ken, Al, Harry, come with me," he directed. The tone of his voice surprised the Rockets.

"Is everything alright sir?" Ken, the one with dark hair, asked.

"No," Giovanni answered.

"What has happened?" Harry, the one with longer hair asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"We've lost. We must retreat immediately."

"There's a helicopter on the roof," Al told Giovanni. "However, it's not warmed up and ready yet and it's twin rotored, so it'll be a while before it can take off."

"Is it armed?"

"Yes sir," Ken answered. "It's fully loaded."

"Good," Giovanni answered.

He then led the way down the corridor that led to the stairwell. Once he arrived at the stairwell, he told them, "You three remain here." He then paused before asking, "Do any of you have your private phones with you?"

All three Rockets produced cell phones for Giovanni. He then took one from Ken and dialed a number. After a second, he spoke into it, saying, "Matori, you, Jessie, James, and Meowth are to report to the landing pad immediately. We're getting out of here."

"Understood sir," came the responses from the four.

Giovanni then handed the phone back to Ken and he told the trio, "Hold the line. No one gets past you. Nobody. If you see Ash and/or Leaf or their family members or friends, kill them."

"Understood sir," the Rockets answered as they drew their Ray Guns and readied their Poké Balls. Giovanni then made his way to the stairwell to make the ascent to the helicopter pad.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

Meanwhile, on the other side of the large metal wall separating the two halves of the battlefield, Mewtwo and Ganondorf, now Ganon, were fighting in the battle of their lives, or so it seemed at first. However, while neither combatant was giving an inch, neither of them seemed to be inflicting any damage on the other, either. Ganon slashed at Mewtwo with his twin energy swords, only for Mewtwo's shield to stop the swords, the shield flaring with each impact. Mewtwo did not even flinch as the swords struck his shield. He then sent a wave of telekinetic energy at Ganon, managing to push him away but not inflict any damage on the massive beast. Ganon clawed his feet into the ground to arrest his momentum and looked back at Mewtwo, grinning.

"Is that all you've got? You showed so much more against Aizen," the beast taunted, trying to egg Mewtwo into using more of his power so he could get a good idea of just how powerful the psychic cat-like Pokémon really was. Mewtwo did not fall for the bait.

"Why should I waste precious energy against such weak attacks, and against such a weak being?" the cat-like Pokémon replied. "You're far weaker than Aizen."

Ganon gritted his teeth and showed Mewtwo the back of his right hand, his Triforce mark glowing a deep gold. Soon, a golden triangle formed on the ground beneath Mewtwo's feet. Mewtwo quickly gleaned what the attack was and he merely floated several feet into the air as a magnificent shaft of light emanated from the ground, rising to a few feet above the triangle. Had Mewtwo been standing on the ground, he would have been hit by a powerful blast of Triforce magic. Judging from the power of the attack, though, it appeared as if his shield would have been sufficient to protect him from taking any damage, something that he was quick to let Ganon know.

"I don't even know why I made the effort to avoid that attack," he noted casually.

Ganon merely smirked. "Then why _did_ you avoid the attack?" the Gerudo King retorted.

Mewtwo gave no answer as he powered an Aura Sphere in his hand and propelled it towards the massive beast. Ganon, shrugged as he brought one of his swords down on the Aura Sphere, slicing it in half, the two haves curling around the body of the beast and striking the ground behind him, letting forth two explosions that would have destroyed tanks. Ganon merely shrugged as Mewtwo followed that Aura Sphere with a second one. The beast did not even try to avoid or deflect the attack. The Aura Sphere merely collided with Ganon's chest and exploded, covering the beast in a cloud of dust. After less then a second, Ganon stepped forward, making his way through the dust cloud, showing that he had not taken any damage from the attack.

"Pathetic," he noted nonchalantly. "And to think you were able to beat a Magic Lord. It looks like you've been worn down from all the fighting you did today."

Mewtwo returned Ganon's smirk. "And here I was, thinking that you were a powerful opponent," he said as he rose further into the air, high above Ganon's reach. "You're no threat to me. You're a ground fighter only. You were stronger as Ganondorf."

Ganon could only grin at Mewtwo's seeming arrogance. "I hope you're willing to put some money down on that."

Mewtwo gave no reaction as Ganon held his energy swords high. The beast then pointed the swords at Mewtwo and they unleashed two powerful blast of magical electricity on the Psychic-type Pokémon. Mewtwo's eyes flashed with surprise as the attacks came upon his shield and caused them to flare, the force of the attacks pushing Mewtwo back several feet before he used his power to arrest his momentum.

Mewtwo countered with a blast of Psystrike, the cat-like Pokémon sending blue psychic waves down upon the beast. The first waves of energy collided with Ganon and knocked him back, but did not inflict any real damage to him. Ganon then steeled himself against the other waves and they did nothing further to him at all. Mewtwo grimaced outwardly, but he had not expected the attack to actually destroy Ganon. He quickly analyzed the attack and figured that if he could power up with Calm Mind a few times, that he might be able to do more to Ganon, though the beast did not believe that Mewtwo was all that much of a threat.

"What's it like facing something that doesn't have a weakness to psychic attacks?" the beast taunted, rubbing his chest as if he were wiping off a smudge that had sullied his pristine armor. He was obviously referring to Mewtwo's fight with Aizen, who Ganon must have figured still had a weakness against psychic attacks, even though Mewtwo knew otherwise.

While Ganon was taunting Mewtwo, the psychic cat-like Pokémon used Calm Mind to power up his special attack and special defense abilities. While he did not like having to waste time using a support move, he knew that Ganon was currently nigh invulnerable to his attacks. It was his belief, and hope, that that would change with a few Calm Minds. Soon, Ganon went back on the offensive.

Ganon pointed his swords back up at Mewtwo and fired more magical lightning bolts at the Pokémon. This time, however, when they struck Mewtwo's shield, the caused the shield to flare a bit but only sent him moving a few inches back, rather than the several feet from the previous attack. Ganon only smirked.

"So, it looks like you were ready for that one. Let's see how you handle this," the beast challenged.

Ganon then raised his eyes and a gold ball of energy formed above him about the size of a beach ball. He pushed a great deal of energy into the ball and it quickly grew in size until it was about five meters in diameter. As Ganon was powering the ball of energy, Mewtwo used Calm Mind once more. As Ganon added more energy to his ball, Mewtwo used Calm Mind once again, readying his defenses for the incoming attack. He also turned his shield into a reflector shield, hoping that if his attacks could not hurt Ganon, that maybe Ganon's own attacks could affect him. His plan was about to be put to the test.

Once the ball of energy was powered up to its full power, Ganon unleashed it on Mewtwo. Mewtwo stood firm and did not even try to avoid the attack as it came sailing towards him far faster than he would have expected. The attack reached him and struck his shield, causing it to flare for a few moments, before it sent the beast's attack back at him. Ganon's eyes went wide as his attack was reflected right back at him and he attempted to dive out of the way, only to fail and suffer a direct hit to his chest. He grunted with the hit as the ball exploded and inflicted actual damage to the beast. His armor and skin were smoking and Mewtwo noticed that there was some scoring of the armor and some minor burns to the exposed parts of Ganon's body. Mewtwo grinned at the sight. It appeared as if Ganon _was_ vulnerable to his own attacks. Mewtwo then decided to add his own attack and test his increased power against Ganon.

The psychic cat-like Pokémon quickly unleashed a Psystrike on Ganon. The powered up Psystrike was more than sufficient to inflict noticeable damage on the beast. The blue psychic waves crashed into Ganon and broke off pieces of his armor, and were even inflicting damage to his skin. One wave managed to pierce Ganon through and through in the lower right section of his abdomen. Fortunately, for Ganon, there did not seem to be any vital organs in that area so the attack was not fatal, especially since the attack waves cauterized the wound. As for the other waves that crashed into the beast, another one did not break the skin, but managed to break Ganon's left arm, and yet another broke some ribs.

As soon as the attack was finished, Ganon fell to the ground, staggered by the attack, a golden glow surrounding his body as the form of Ganon melted away and revealed the injured form of Ganondorf once more. As Ganondorf put weight on his left hand, he immediately collapsed and cried aloud in pain. Mewtwo could only grin. One more Psystrike, or any attack for that matter but he wanted to be certain, and Ganondorf would be no more.

Ganondorf looked up at Mewtwo in amazement and horror. "Im…poss…ible," he croaked. "How?" He could scarcely believe that Mewtwo was so powerful. As he lay on the ground, helpless, he could see the Triforce of Power glowing in his right hand. The glow seemed to be pulsing, indicating that it was having trouble keeping him alive. He really needed to leave this fight right now. He gritted his teeth and glared up at Mewtwo defiantly.

"Another day, then," he said just before he vanished from Mewtwo's sight.

Mewtwo remained on guard as Ganondorf vanished from the scene. He did not look to be in any condition to launch an attack on Mewtwo or anyone else, but the psychic cat-like Pokémon was not taking any chances. He would not underestimate Ganondorf at all. He then scanned the area surrounding the headquarters to see if Ganondorf had reappeared there. When he was satisfied that the former Gerudo King was not going to return, he used his power to remove the metal door splitting the battlefield in two and see how Ash was doing.

When he removed the door, he saw Delia standing over Mia, who appeared to be back to normal. He scanned Delia and Mia to make certain that they were okay. When he discovered that they were fine and that Mia was sleeping due to the effects of the pendant that was restoring her memories, Mewtwo scanned the rest of the base to see how the others were doing. He found Ash charging towards Giovanni with his Pokémon team and that Giovanni was already outside waiting for his helicopter to start up so he could take off.

As for the others, May, Dawn, Professor Oak, and Tracey were holding their own against a horde of League Trainers and Rockets, but they were being pushed back. Even the arrival of Lance and Cynthia was not enough to completely turn the tide. As such, Mewtwo decided that he should assist them before coming back to watch over Mia. For a moment, however, before going to help May, Dawn, Lance, and Cynthia, he turned back towards Mia and Delia. Ganondorf must have gone through a great deal of trouble to turn Mia into his slave. He doubted that the former Gerudo King would simply just let her go like that. However, with her mother and her Pokémon friends watching over, as well as the fact that Ganondorf had more important things, such as his own survival, to worry about, he decided that it was probably best that he go and assist the others in beating what was left of the League Legendaries. With that, Mewtwo vanished from the battlefield and teleported down to the lower levels in order to assist May, Dawn, and the others.

During the various fights on the upper levels of the headquarters, May, Dawn, Professor Oak, and Tracey were having problems of their own dealing with the League Troopers and their Legendary Pokémon. While the freeing of the Rockets' Pokémon did lessen some of the numbers a bit, the League Troopers still had Pokémon that were loyal to them, and likely were loyal to them from the beginning. They also still had to deal with various Legendary Beasts and the Eon Duo, who were making life more than a little difficult for them. Had it not been for Tyranitar, who was becoming as much of a problem as the other Pokémon due to his love of using Earthquake, as well as its effectiveness against Raikou and Entei, May and Dawn's teams would have been defeated already. As it was now, though, they were barely hanging on with Tyranitar still able to fight.

It did not take long for Lance and Cynthia to arrive, both of them sending in their Pokémon. Dragonite and Garchomp quickly assisted Tyranitar in making short work of a Latios that was preparing a sneak attack Luster Purse on Blaziken. The trio quickly felled the Pokémon, rendering it unconscious, while also knocking out the League Trainer that was commanding it. Its partner, Latias, attempted to get revenge, but was assaulted by Blizzards from Mamoswine and Delcatty, along with Ice Beams from Glaceon and May's Blastoise. Latias was frozen solid in the process and taken out of the fight. Still, more Legendary Beasts began to be deployed onto the battlefield along with more Eon Duos.

"There's no end to them!" Dawn called, her Pokémon having to fight off attacks from numerous Pokémon from League Trainers.

"We have to hold on," May cried, her own Pokémon having problems of their own against the Pokémon League Trainers. "We can't let these Trainers reinforce Giovanni!"

"Easier said than done," Tracey retorted as his Scizor managed knocked out an Alakazam using X-Scissor and then barely managing to dodge a Flamethrower from an enemy Infernape.

Despite the fact that the Pokémon were still fighting, they were fighting an uphill battle. All of the Pokémon on Ash's friends' side were being attacked by two and three Pokémon at a time. And when they took down one or even two Pokémon, two more would enter the fray in their place. And that was before the Legendary Pokémon entered into the fight. So far, Tyranitar, Lance's Dragonite, and Cynthia's Garchomp managed to keep the Legendary Pokémon from engaging May, Dawn, Tracey, and Professor Oak's Pokémon, but they were beginning to lose ground. They would not be able to last much longer. Fortunately, a game changer would soon arrive.

Just as one of the League Trainers yelled, "Pour it on everyone, we've got 'em on the ropes," Mewtwo suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield, his eyes glowing. He took one look at the Pokémon League Trainers and their Pokémon and his eyes flashed. All non-Dark-type Pokémon instantly fainted as Mewtwo put them to sleep psychically. He then used a few Aura Spheres to take down the Dark-type Pokémon that were still standing. The League Trainers' eyes went wide at the scene as their army was literally taken out with a single thought. They glanced at each other and then decided to play their trump cards as they drew their Ray Guns and pointed them at Mewtwo and the others. Mewtwo was not finished, though. With another flash of his eyes, he broke the arms, legs, and kneecaps of every single League Trooper that was engaging May, Dawn, and the others. He also dislocated their shoulders The League Trainers collapsed onto the ground, howling in pain as they collapsed onto the floor, their threats neutralized without him having to kill them, though a few of the Trainers wished that he had finished them off, rather than leave them with various broken bones and dislocated shoulders.

"Well, that was easy," he commented casually.

"What took you so long and why didn't you do that the first time?" May roared at Mewtwo after seeing him lay low the opposition in less than two seconds.

"I had other business to attend to," Mewtwo answered, unbothered by May's temper.

"She does have a point," Dawn said, sticking up for her friend. "Why didn't you just do this earlier?"

"I needed to conserve energy for fighting Ganondorf and for dealing with any other traps that Giovanni may have laid," he answered. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now. Ash is in pursuit of Giovanni and we need to help him now. Follow me."

The others did not dare question his orders as he surged forward, floating through the air almost too fast for them to keep up. Wasting no time, May, Dawn, and the others went over to the discarded Ray Guns and other weapons and picked up several of the guns as well as some bazooka-like weapons on the chance that they needed heavier weaponry, and charged after Mewtwo, their Pokémon following them closely. When they reached Ash, and hopefully Giovanni, they wanted to waste no time taking the Rocket Boss out. The battle against Team Rocket was going to end here.

Meanwhile, Giovanni had made his way out to the helicopter, a twin rotored helicopter that was already in the process of starting. There, he was met by Jessie, James, Meowth, two Rocket Grunts, and Matori. The Rockets saluted him as he rushed towards them in order to board the helicopter.

"Is it here?" he asked Matori quickly.

"It is," the secretary answered. "The Badge Amplifier is here and it is ready to go if need be."

He then looked over to Jessie, James, and Meowth and told them, "You three keep watch. Make certain that if Ash and/or his friends pursues us that they are stopped."

"Right," the two answered in reply. Then they stood by, waiting for the inevitable appearance by Ash.

Back on the battlefield, Delia and Mia's Pokémon were watching over the girl when her eyes shot open and quickly sat up, almost as if she had awakened from a nightmare and was breathing heavily. She looked around in a disoriented fashion and saw her mother and her Pokémon friends looking over her.

"Hi honey," Delia said, trying to get her to relax. "Do you remember everything now?"

Mia scowled at her mother. "I remember," she said in a dark tone. "I remember seeing you and that Rocket scum Marcus on one of your dates."

Delia was taken aback and looked down at the ground. She sighed and told Mia, "Dating that man was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made, mind-wipe or not."

"You betrayed Dad!" Mia accused.

"No," Delia blurted. "I never slept with Marcus. I ended the relationship because I wouldn't have sex with him," she explained. "Maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, I always had a feeling that my false memories of your father were just that, false."

Mia looked at her skeptically, prompting her to frown. Mia then heard Venusaur speaking, "Venusar, venu venu, saur saur, venusaur."

Mia took out her Pokédex and activated its translation software, which translated what Venusaur had told her into, "Your mother is telling the truth about her and Marcus."

Mia frowned as she heard the translation. She did not know what to believe, and right now, it did not really matter. Looking around, she did not see Ash. "Where's Ash?" she queried.

"In pursuit of Giovanni," Delia answered.

Mia then shot up and was about to rush out in pursuit when Mewtwo, Ash's other friends, and their Pokémon all arrived on the scene. When they saw that Mia was alive and well, they all rushed over to her to make certain.

"Wow," Dawn said, smiling as she saw Ash's twin sister. "We didn't expect to see you here."

Mia did not immediately respond, only looking at each and every one of Ash's friends, and hers, making sure that she remembered them. She easily identified Lance and Cynthia, and was able to recognize May, Dawn, Tracey, and Professor Oak as well. She still had mixed memories of the professor, though, but she did not say anything. The only objective on her mind was reaching Ash and taking out Giovanni once and for all. When she saw that they were armed with a large assortment of weaponry, she took a Ray Gun from Professor Oak and put it in a holster on her belt.

"I have to get to Ash," she said sternly as she then darted towards the exit without another word, hoping to reach Ash before he potentially got in over his head.

Before the others departed, Professor Oak went over to Delia and handed her a Ray Gun. Then, without wasting any more time, the group set out in pursuit of Mia, wanting to make sure that they could help her if she got in over her head.

As for Ash, he and his Pokémon friends were making their way down the corridor when they encountered the three Elite Rocket Agents Ken, Al, and Harry. They already had their Pokémon deployed when Ash arrived in the corridor, their teams consisting of Machamp, Tauros, Jynx, a human-like Pokémon with blonde hair and a purple face wearing a red dress; Voltorb, a Pokémon that resembled a Poké Ball; Electrode, the evolved form of Electrode whose colors were the reverse of Voltorb; Electivire, Octillery, and Mr. Mime for Ken. Al had a Gengar, a purple ghostly Pokémon with two short legs two short arms and pink eyes; Slowbro, a pink dopey-looking quadrupedal Pokémon with a gray shell clamping onto its tail; Hypno, and Ariados, a spider-like Pokémon with a red body and black stripes and marking that form an unhappy face on its abdomen. As for Harry, he had a Muk, Machamp, Kingler, a large crab-like Pokémon with a massive left claw that was far larger than the right, Arbok, Weezing, Girafarig, and Drapion. They were still surprised to see the boy come so quickly and their expressions showed that when their eyes flashed in shock. Still, they knew what they had to do.

"Everyone attack!" all three Rockets cried in unison. "Kill that boy and his Pokémon!"

As the Rockets were issuing their commands, though, Ash's team went on the offensive, each one of his Pokémon picking their targets carefully and doing their best to take them down with single hits. Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt on Kingler and Octillery, taking down both Pokémon while Charizard first targeted Jynx, taking her down with a single Fire Blast. He then targeted Ariados and used Fire Blast to take the spider-like Pokémon down as well. As for the rest of Ash's team, Donphan quickly used Rapid Spin to charge into the center of the Team Rocket lines and used Earthquake on them. The rings of energy expanding out from the center and inflicting devastating damage to the Rockets' Pokémon team. Donphan's single Earthquake attack was sufficient to take down Voltorb, Electrode, Electivire, Arbok, and Drapion, while inflicting significant damage to anything else on the ground that did not resist the attack. That allowed Blastoise and Venusaur to join in on the attack, Venusaur using a barrage of Energy Balls to take down Girafarig, Machamp, and Slowbro while Blastoise used Hydro Pump much like Surf and sent a wave of water, drowning the rest of the team. The combination made short work of the rest of the Rockets' Pokémon, as well as the Rockets, themselves. Snorlax did not even have to engage. The wave of water crashed into the Rockets and carried them down the corridor and past the stairwell that would take Ash to the helipad. With the Rockets having been dealt with, Ash made his way to the stairwell and the climbed it in order to reach Giovanni, the boy hoping that he was not too late.

Not too far away from the battle, Mia was in hot pursuit of both her brother, wanting to make sure that he was okay. She quickly came to the corridor that the Elite Rocket Agents had been guarding and could see the signs of battle having taken place. The unconscious forms of the Rocket Pokémon were strewn about the floor not too far in front of her. She quickly made her way past them and saw three waterlogged Rockets lying on the floor, also unconscious, or worse. She took out some rope and then went and bound their hands and feet. Once that was finished, she took out their Poké Balls and returned each Pokémon to its Poké Ball, locking each ball as soon as it had retrieved its Pokémon. She wanted to make sure that they could not become liabilities in the future but did not want to simply kill them, even though they were working for Team Rocket. Once she was finished, she turned to the partially open door and proceeded to make her way up the stairwell, and onto the helipad.

Meanwhile, Ash had already made his way up to the helipad and was just in time to see Giovanni boarding the helicopter as its rotors were twirling at full speed, the noise and speed of the rotors indicating that it was about ready to take off. Standing next to him just outside the door were Jessie, James, Meowth, and two Rocket Grunts. James already had Malamar, Mr. Mime, and his Growlithe named Growlie out and ready for battle. Jessie also had Wobbuffet out and ready for battle.

Upon seeing the boy and his Pokémon emerge from the doorway, Giovanni's eyes went wide with shock and horror. Ash had managed to make it past that Iron Knuckle and an elite trio of Rocket Agents before he was ready. He quickly turned to Jessie and James, commanding them, "You two get onboard now. Make sure your Psychic-type Pokémon are also there with us as well. Send the rest to battle Ash!" Turning to the two Rocket Grunts, he commanded, "You two hold that boy off. Use every Pokémon at your disposal!"

"Yes, sir," the Rockets answered, saluting their boss. They then yelled, "Everyone go!"

They hurled two Poké Balls each at Ash, hoping that their Pokémon would be sufficient to stop the boy while they drew their weapons. The Poké Balls opened and out came a Magnezone, Alakazam, Drapion, and a Feraligatr. The moment the Pokémon came out onto the battlefield, they cried their names and went on the attack, unleashing Thunderbolts, Psychic attacks, Sludge Bombs, and Hydro Pumps at Ash and his Pokémon. Also, while the Pokémon engaged Ash's team, the Rockets drew their own weapons, a Super Scope and a pistol in the shape of a submarine called a Steel Diver. The Steel Diver could shoot explosives at the teen and his Pokémon and was a dangerous weapon.

As for Ash and his Pokémon, his Pokémon team stepped out in front and engaged the Rockets and their Pokémon, using their numerical superiority to great effect. Charizard instantly fried Magnezone with a Fire Blast while Venusaur used Sleep Powder to try to put the rest of the enemy Pokémon to sleep. The cloud managed to put Alakazam and Drapion to sleep, though Pikachu took down Feraligatr with a Thunderbolt, having the bolt of lightning ride back on the stream of water, before the Sleep Powder cloud could affect it. With Alakazam and Drapion asleep, the rest of Ash's team wailed on the sleeping Pokémon until they fainted.

Just as Ash's team was finishing off the final Pokémon from the Rockets, Jessie and James stepped off to cover the Rockets, deploying their Pokémon in the process. Jessie and James quickly let out all of their Pokémon consisting of Seviper, Yanmega, Swoobat, a female Jellicent, Wobbuffet, and Gourgeist for Jessie. James let out a Malamar, Carnivine, Mr. Mime, Cofagrigus, Amoonguss, a large mushroom-like Pokémon with a Poké Ball colored cap with warts, a gray stem-like body with two gray arms with two Poké Ball like shields on the ends of the arms; and a Growlithe named Growlie, a dog-like Pokémon with the fur pattern resembling that of a tiger's.

"Everyone, go," they cried. "Attack the twerp and his Pokémon!"

Just as they were about to launch the attack, though, a volley of Ray Gun blasts shot forth from the door behind Ash, missing the Team Rocket Trio by inches, but scoring hits on Matori and Giovanni, the former of who was in the doorway of the helicopter, with the latter being a few feet away. Matori fell back into the helicopter a hole burned in her chest, and was pulled onboard the rest of the way by a Rocket Grunt that had previously boarded. Once she was onboard, the Rocket dragged her to a low bench so he could check on her condition.

As for Giovanni, he did not suffer a fatal wound, but he was still in great pain as he attempted to rise and make his way to the helicopter's boarding ramp. The other Rockets' faces went ashen when they saw Mia and her Pokémon friends emerge from the doorway and step out onto the helipad, her gaze colder than outer space. They could instantly tell that the only thing she wanted was for her brother to be safe, and for Team Rocket to be dead. And she seemed to be doing a pretty good job of that at the moment. Ash and Mia's Pokémon teams then proceeded to make quick work of Team Rocket's team, with Ash focusing on taking on Jessie's Pokémon while Mia focused on James's.

Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt on Swoobat while it tried to use Air Slash on Venusaur, only for Swoobat to be fried by the Thunderbolt and rendered unconscious before it could launch the attack. Jellicent attempted to cover Jellicent with Psychic only for Ash's Venusaur to take her down with a single Energy Ball. Charizard then dealt with Yanmega and Gourgeist with a single Flamethrower, taking down both Pokémon. Blastoise then dealt with Wobbuffet, using Rapid Spin to surprise the Rocket Pokémon, who was expecting him to use Hydro Pump and had, thus, set up a Mirror Coat instead of Counter, allowing Blastoise to hit him without taking any counter damage. When Wobbuffet switched to Counter, Blastoise unleashed a dual Hydro Pump to the blue Pokémon's face, knocking it out with that hit. That left Donphan and Snorlax to deal with Seviper, who was no match for those two Pokémon, both of them easily knocking out Seviper.

As for Mia, her Pokémon were making just as short work of James's team. Jolteon surprised James's Malamar by using Signal Beam to take it down with one attack, the beam of energy colliding the Pokémon and rendering it unconscious. Chandelure proceeded to deal with Carnivine and Cofagrigus using a Fire Blast to take down the Venus Flytrap-like Pokémon and then a Shadow Ball to take down Cofagrigus. Amoonguss attempted to fight by unleashing a cloud of Stun Spore, but Chandelure turned and incinerated the cloud with a Flamethrower, the blast of flame continuing until it took down Amoonguss, too. That left only Mr. Mime and James's pet, Growlie, to deal with six Pokémon who were not even close to breaking a sweat. And they were not going to last long at all.

Starmie brutalized Growlie by spinning over towards the dog-like Pokémon and almost drowning it in a stream of Hydro Pump, the water completely engulfing and waterlogging the dog. When the flood mercifully ended, the dog-like Pokémon was left unconscious. As for Mr. Mime, the Psychic/Fairy-type Pokémon attempted to launch a Moonblast attack at Tyranitar, who wanted to get his own piece of the action before Venusaur interrupted Tyranitar by firing off a Sludge Bomb on the part Fairy-type Pokémon. Since Poison-type attacks were super effective against Fairy-type Pokémon, Sludge Bomb was able to take down Mr. Mime in one hit. Still, as Mr. Mime was falling, Tyranitar could not help but brutalize the Pokémon by unleashing a Stone Edge its way, adding to the damage unnecessarily, though Mia did not mind. All she did was grin as the two Pokémon almost killed the Mr. Mime, utterly shocking James at how brutal they were.

With the battle over, Jessie and James backed away a few feet, the horror they were feeling at the strength of the twins showing on their faces. Jessie, not knowing what else to do, shoved Meowth out in front of them, yelling, "It's your turn, Meowth, go!" It was a clear act of desperation.

Meowth looked back at Jessie dumbfounded. "What?" he gasped. "Are you freaking kidding me? She'll eat me alive!"

He looked back at Mia, only to see her licking her lips, almost as if she were willing to try raw and wriggling Meowth for dinner, something that unnerved the cat-like Pokémon to the point of a nervous breakdown. However, he would not have to worry for long, for Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at the Rocket Trio, the bolt of lightning striking them, electricity arcing across their bodies as they let out cries of pain before losing consciousness. As they fell to the ground, unconscious, Ash and Mia then turned their focus onto the two Rocket Grunts, who were busy trying to get Giovanni safely onboard the helicopter.

As soon as the Rocket Grunts saw Jessie, James, and Meowth fall, they knew that it was up to them. Fortunately, they still had some Pokémon, as well as their weapons. That would not last long, though, for Mia nodded over to Starmie, who quickly used Psychic to disarm them, pulling their Steel Diver and Super Scope from their grasp. They quickly realized that they needed more power and thus, one of the grunts took out a Poké Ball and cried, "Go Hypno, you're our only hope!"

The Poké Ball opened and deployed a single Hypno, who was immediately abused by Tyranitar as he rushed over to it, grabbed it, and used Crunch on it, biting down on Hypno's head until the Pokémon was rendered unconscious. Things only got worse for them as May, Dawn, Delia, Lance, and Cynthia then burst through the door behind Ash, with Mewtwo appearing between Ash and Mia, the psychic cat-like Pokémon glancing over at his friends and grinning, nodding, knowing that this battle was about to come to an end.

The grunt, seeing that the situation was hopeless, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and decided to flee the battle, retreating to the helicopter. As the retreated, he returned Hypno to its Poké Ball and took out another one and opened it, a Kadabra emerging from the ball. Kadabra used Psychic to push Ash and Mia's teams from Giovanni as he was taken onboard the helicopter, the boarding ramp closing behind him and the second grunt, leaving the first to face down Ash, Mia, and friends alone. While Kadabra's Psychic did nothing to Tyranitar, the Rock/Dark-type Pokémon was not fast enough to intercept Giovanni and the other Rockets before they boarded the helicopter. The Kadabra then teleported onto the helicopter, leaving his Trainer to face down Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon alone. The condemned Rocket was not long for this world as Tyranitar vented his frustrations on him, grabbing the hapless Rocket and using Crunch on the Rocket's head, permanently neutralizing the Rocket's threat as the Rocket begged for his life, Tyranitar not caring about the wishes of a criminal and possible murderer.

Onboard the helicopter, Kadabra also erected a Light Screen barrier over the helicopter in order to protect everyone else on there, especially Hypno, as well as ensure that the helicopter would not be shot down during its escape. The remaining Rocket grunts quickly took out a Max Revive and administered it to Hypno, knowing that they would need Hypno's powers soon since they could not hope to hold out against an all out assault by Ash and Mia's Pokémon. Once the liquid was administered to Hypno, its eyes shot wide open and it was ready for whatever tasks it would be called to perform. They then went to attend to Matori and Giovanni. They were quick to see that Matori was already dead, her eyes open wide and her expression frozen as one of pain and shock in death. Giovanni, however, was not all that bad off, only having suffered a wound to his shoulder, one that the Ray Gun had cauterized.

Back down on the helipad, Ash and Mia ordered their Pokémon to go on the attack, Ash commanding, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on that helicopter now! Charizard, use Fire Blast to take it down!"

"Tyranitar, Venusaur, bring that thing down!" Mia directed, pointing towards the helicopter.

The Pokémon obeyed and unleashed a torrent of attacks on it. Pikachu's Thunderbolt and Charizard's Fire Blast were the first attacks to hit, striking the Light Screen, head on, but failing to penetrate it before Kadabra erected a new screen around the entrances and the left side of the helicopter. It soon erected a Reflect shield as well, seeing Tyranitar launching a barrage of stones its way. While the helicopter's armor would likely have held out, the Pokémon did not want to take the chance of it being knocked out by a lucky hit. The stones struck the Reflect barrier but they, too, failed to penetrate.

While the Pokémon were attacking, Giovanni eased himself back onto one of the benches in the passenger compartment of the helicopter. As soon as he was comfortable, he looked weakly at the scene. Seeing that the helicopter was rising, he groaned, "What's going on? What's our status?"

"Ash, Leaf, and their friends have managed to reach us and have captured or killed virtually everyone in the base. They're all outside and we're no match for them. We're all that's left, and it looks like they'll get us before long unless we get out of here now."

"Then it's over," he sighed with resignation. He then looked around and asked, "Do we still have the Badge Amplifier?"

"Yes sir," the Grunt answered, indicating a large machine in the back of the passenger compartment.

"Then we can still partially salvage the situation," Giovanni stated. "Destroy the helipad and then the headquarters. Take them all down now. If we fall, all will fall."

The Grunt's eyes flashed for a second, knowing that all of the resources and the Legendary Pokémon that were inside the base would be lost. They would not be able to use the power of the Pokémon League as cover anymore, either, which would make them simply an organized criminal organization once more, with years of work having been ruined in a single day. But seeing that there was little alternative, he knew that Giovanni knew what he was doing as he, too, looked pained at what he had ordered. Eventually, he answered, "Aye sir." Turning to the Grunt whose partner had been abandoned on the helipad, he commanded, "Tell that Pokémon to destroy the helipad and to scuttle the base."

At first, the other Rocket looked shocked at the orders that were being given, but upon seeing Giovanni nod, he acquiesced. Looking down at the scene below, he realized that it would not be so bad. Team Rocket may be gone, but they would take their bane, and two of the more prominent Pokémon League Champions, and the only surviving members of the leadership with them. And there was always the possibility of Giovanni reestablishing the group at a later date. He knew that all of the Rockets inside would die, too, but that did not trouble him. They were being sacrificed for the greater good. Seeing that his boss was safe in the cockpit, he saw that all that was left was to carry out his boss's orders. To that end, he commanded the Kadabra and Hypno, "Kadabra, Hypno, use Psychic to collapse the helipad."

He grinned as their eyes began to glow and the pad began to shake. The Grunt soon reentered the passenger compartment and the second grunt told him, "It's about to go."

"I'll inform Giovanni so he and the pilot can prepare the scuttling charges."

Back down on the helipad, Ash and Mia suddenly felt the pad begin to vibrate. The vibrations soon became worse and it felt as if an earthquake was occurring on the pad, everyone struggling to maintain their footing. Cynthia, knowing that the helipad was about to fall, yelled to the others, "Everyone inside the base now! This thing's about to collapse!"

Ash and Mia's friends did not need to be told twice as they promptly recalled their Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. They then retreated back into the headquarters, dragging the unconscious and captured Team Rocket Trio and the unconscious Grunt that Tyranitar had rendered unconscious with them. Even Mewtwo retreated, ready to use his powers to prevent the headquarters from being destroyed. As they retreated, they looked back and saw that Ash and Mia were not following them. "Come on!" Delia called over to them. "You have to get off the helipad!"

Ash and Mia heard them, but Ash replied, "You get inside Mom. We have our own way off!"

Delia started to disagree, but a volley of energy fire from the chin guns of the helicopter, and seeing the determination of her children convinced her that they could handle themselves. She and the others then followed the Pokémon League forces back into the base, leaving Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon to deal with the helicopter. Once they were safely inside, Ash, Mia, Pikachu, Charizard, Tyranitar, and Venusaur faced down the helicopter, hoping to take it down before the pad collapsed.

Wanting to play it safer, though, Ash mounted Charizard and went to recall all of his other Pokémon, wanting them to be out of danger. As soon as he mounted Charizard, he told Pikachu and Charizard, "Attack the opening with your strongest attacks. We have to break down that Light Screen so we can attack the helicopter directly!"

The Pokémon responded by unleashing a massive Thunder attack, Fire Blast, and Solar Beam at the helicopter, respectively. Unfortunately, though, the Light Screen held against the assault. Mia, however, was studying the helicopter and was quick to notice its rear rotor. She quickly knelt down on the ground and found a discarded Super Scope. Crawling over to the bazooka-like weapon, she picked it up and prepared to target the helicopter. In order to distract the occupants, though, she called over to Tyranitar, "Tyranitar, use Stone Edge on the helicopter!"

Tyranitar complied and launched a barrage of stones at the helicopter, each of them striking the Reflect barrier, causing it to flare. However, the Pokémon's attention was directed towards reinforcing the barrier over the side of the helicopter, not near the rotors. She then focused the weapon towards the rear rotor, seeing it as still being vulnerable to fire, despite the armor. However, the shaking of the helipad was making it difficult to line up the shot. Still, she went for broke and pulled the trigger. It did not fire immediately, but a soft hum began to rise in pitch quickly for a single second before the weapon unleashed a massive yellow ball of plasma at the helicopter. The plasma ball scored a direct hit on the rear rotor, breaking through a weakened section of the Light Screen, which was already at the breaking point due to the constant barrage of attacks from Pikachu, Charizard, and Venusaur. It melted through the armor and melted the rear rotor.

The helicopter shook and one of the Rocket Grunts was thrown to the floor of the helicopter as it suddenly began to spin out of control. The Pokémon's concentration was broken and the helipad suddenly began to stop shaking and they had to focus on controlling the helicopter's spin. Kadabra's eyes glowed and the helicopter stopped its spin and began to turn back towards the pad, targeting Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon. Ash and Mia looked head on at the helicopter and could see Giovanni now sitting in the copilot's seat. In addition, the helipad began to shake again as Hypno used Psychic, though not as violently since it was only Hypno putting any energy into the attack, Kadabra being busy keeping the helicopter aloft. However, without Kadabra being able to raise any screens over the helicopter, Ash, Mia, and their Pokémon were free to open fire on it to take it down. While Ash might have wanted to be more merciful and offer Team Rocket a chance to surrender peacefully, Mia had no such restraint. She took the Super Scope and leveled it at the front of the helicopter. However, Giovanni had his finger on the trigger and was about to unleash a wave of missiles and energy fire on them when a missile streaked up towards the helicopter seemingly from nowhere. Everyone's eyes went wide as the missile rocketed up to the helicopter and slammed into the rear end of the vehicle, blowing off its rear half.

The helicopter began an uncontrolled spin as the explosion had hurled Kadabra and the other Rocket Grunt out of the helicopter and to the ground as they fell the five to six stories to the ground, screaming, smoke trailing their flaming bodies. The explosion had also wounded the Hypno, who had just barely been able to use its psychic power to keep itself on the stricken helicopter. The wounded Pokémon tried to concentrate and focus its power so it could keep the spinning aircraft aloft and allow for a soft landing, but it was not to be. Initially, it was showing some signs of success as it was able to levitate the helicopter away from the landing pad, and flee away from the base and towards a small section of woods in the distance, but it would not last long, for Mia then fired a charged blast from her Super Scope, along with Pikachu, Charizard, Tyranitar, and Venusaur unleashing a hail of attacks at the helicopter as well. The attacks each struck the vehicle inflicting more damage on the vehicle.

As the helicopter shook from the impacts of the stones, and the remaining and crew were shocked by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, and the hull was being superheated by Charizard's Fire Blast, the end came for the helicopter and its occupants. The hull was beginning to warp and melt and the helicopter rotors were soon beginning to melt as well, no longer able to keep the craft aloft. Hypno attempted to pick up the slack, but was unable to keep it under control and aloft for long. As it was, after a few seconds, the helicopter began a semi-controlled descent. The descent soon became uncontrolled, though, as the Psychic-type Pokémon was unable to guide the vehicle anymore, having used up most of its power to try to bring down the helipad. Still, it did its best to give the occupants, those that were still alive, a chance to survive the crash and attempted to guide the helicopter away from the small section of woods before trying to set it down as softly as possible. It was not to be, though, for a few seconds later, Hypno's power gave out completely and the vehicle plummeted from the sky as if it were nothing more than a giant paperweight. It fell for a few seconds before crashed into a section of woods, the top of a tree piercing the weakened cockpit window as it fell. The helicopter then listed to the side and continued to fall until it struck the ground, crumpling its nose and shattering what was left of the glass. As it crashed, it skidded along the ground as it rolled along, shredding itself, sending out dirt and debris in all directions. After skidding for a dozen meters or so, the hulk came to rest at the end of its artificial groove in the ground. Normal animals, birds, and Pokémon all fled the scene as the helicopter had crashed, leaving nothing but the crumpled remains of the vehicle, as well as the dead or dying passengers and crew. As it was, no one noticed a man with a smoking bazooka emerging from a denser part of the forest, staring at the downed helicopter as he shouldered his weapon and drew a pistol from a holster on the right side of his hip.

Back on the helipad, Ash dismounted Charizard and watched with his sister as the helicopter went down. Ash looked away from the scene after Hypno had finally given out, unable to watch as the vehicle crashed into the ground and shredded itself. Mia, however, was not nearly as squeamish about the demise of the helicopter, and likely those onboard as well. She watched as it fell below the tree line and listened as she heard the rending of metal and the clatter as it crashed in the woods not too far away. Turning to Ash, she said, "Come on. We have to go."

Ash looked back at her, puzzled. "Where?" he asked.

"To the helicopter's crash site. We have to confirm that Giovanni didn't escape."

"Why? No one could survive that crash. Besides, can't we just wait for Cynthia and the others and check it out with them."

"We can't assume anything!" Mia snapped. "It's our job to go there and make sure that it's finished. We can't wait for backup. We have to check the scene _now_ , just in case he did survive and is making his escape."

Seeing that nothing he could say would dissuade her from morbidly examining the scene from end to end, he decided that it would be wise to back her up. Thinking about it some more, Mia did have a point. They did have to be sure that it was over. Besides, if by some miracle, there were survivors, then they could give them aid, even if they were Rockets.

Ash quickly went over to Charizard and told him, "You were awesome here. I wish I could tell you to take a rest, but we have to go and check out that helicopter crash not too far away." Moving in closer, he whispered into the dragon's ear, "Actually, my sister has to check out the crash. I could afford to wait for some backup."

"I heard that!" Mia called out to him, causing Ash to recoil a bit. However, Ash could not help but also smile. His sister was truly back.

Charizard gave a sigh and then lowered himself, making it easier for the two teens to mount him. Mia was the first to board him, followed quickly by Ash and Pikachu. As they boarded the dragon, Mia recalled the rest of her Pokémon and clipped their balls to her belt. As soon as they were onboard, and all other Pokémon were safely recalled, Charizard lifted off from the pad. The group then went off in search of the helicopter crash.

Over at the helicopter crash site, John walked onto the scene, still wearing his black suit of body armor. He also had a Ray Gun holstered on the right side of his hip. He also wore gloves, so as to not leave any fingerprints on the weapons he was using. On the ground not too far away, he had laid his bazooka on the ground, the rocket launcher no longer being needed. Before heading to the crash scene, he studied his surroundings once more to make sure that no one was there looking in on the crash. No one could know that he was here. Scanning the surroundings, he saw the body of a Hypno lying face first in the ground. Going over to the Pokémon, he drew his side arm and held it on the Pokémon as he took out a scanner and scanned it, being careful to not look anywhere close to its face. The scanner came back negative, indicating that the Pokémon was dead. Looking around, he saw no more Pokémon and he then went back to the helicopter to examine the crash scene in more detail.

He walked over to the mangled and deformed helicopter and looked it over. The wreckage was still flaming and there were fluids leaking from various parts of the breaches in the helicopter's hull. Some of the flames were close to the vehicle, so he knew that he would have to be quick. Still, he smiled. With the dead Hypno, he had an alternative should his initial plan fail. Studying the wreck in more detail, he was surprised at how intact the vehicle was, considering the crash damage as well as the damage that had been inflicted by his missile. He went to the left side of the helicopter, knowing that the hatch had been open at the time of the helicopter's crash and stood at the entrance, peering inside. He saw the dead form of Matori lying face first on the metal floor. Taking out his scanner, he was not surprised to find the Rocket dead. He did not care that the scan identified the dead Rocket as being Giovanni's secretary, Matori.

After looking over the passenger area, he went over to the helicopter's cockpit. Once there, he looked through the now shattered window and looked in. The pilot's side of the helicopter was crumpled and he could see the body of the pilot not moving. It was clear from the way his head was facing that his neck was broken. He then went over to the passenger and saw that it was none other than Giovanni. He was about to take out his scanner to check on the Rocket Boss's condition when he heard a faint cough come from the man. His eyes went wide with surprise as he saw that Giovanni was still alive. However, according to the scan that he was now taking, the Rocket Boss would not remain so for long without medical attention. His mission had been to secure troops for the Subspace Army, as well as another leader for its forces, but he had a different plan in mind. As he went around to the right, Giovanni's head slowly followed him.

"Who…are…you?" Giovanni croaked.

John looked back at Giovanni and gave him a dark smile. "I'm the one who shot you down," he answered. "And the father of Ash and Mia Ketchum."

Giovanni's eyes went wide. "Red?"

"That was my codename once, long ago," John answered. "Just as Leaf is Mia's current codename. Now, I'm back to being John."

"But how? You disappeared. Why have you returned?"

"Ironically enough, to get you to join my master's army as a general in it, along with your Pokémon."

"I'll do it," Giovanni croaked as eagerly as possible. "I'll do anything, just get me out of here and save me."

"Actually, that's the reason I was sent here." It was then that John looked at him more sinisterly. "But my true purpose is to prevent you from joining the Subspace Army and being a threat to my family. To that end…you must die."

Giovanni's eyes flashed with fear as a loud pop could be heard. He never got the chance to hear the Ray Gun shot, though, for the energy burst killed him before the sound of the gun firing could reach his ears the blast of energy burning a hole right between his eyes. John then went over to the rear of the broken helicopter and found a damaged machine that looked to be the size of a refrigerator, easily identifying the machine was the Badge Amplifier that Team Rocket had hoped to use to enslave the Trainer-owned Pokémon to team Rocket. He had also been commanded to take the machine if at all possible. Looking back at the liquid, which was almost certainly fuel, he noticed a piece of flaming wreckage close to the liquid. He went over and kicked the piece of flaming wreckage over onto the puddle immediately igniting it. The flame followed the trail of fuel until it reached the helicopter's fuel tank. Once the fire reached the fuel tank, the tank exploded, engulfing the helicopter and everyone on it in flames.

As the flames were tracking back to the helicopter, John ran a safe distance away from the downed aircraft and waited for the fuel tank to explode and destroy the rest of the craft, and the Badge Amplifier with it. He gave a satisfied smile as the helicopter was engulfed in flames. Team Rocket was finally destroyed. Even if Archer and the other Executives were still alive and at large, they did not have the charisma, connections, or the resources to be the threat that Giovanni was. Team Rocket's threat was now nothing more than a memory. Still, before departing and reporting back to his master that Team Rocket was no longer a viable force for joining the Subspace Army, he had one last thing to do.

He was about to go about his work when he heard a roar in the air. Looking up, he noticed a dragon flying overhead. Recognizing the dragon as a Charizard, the same type of Pokémon that he had started out with, he suspected that Ash and/or Mia were coming to investigate the helicopter crash. Wasting no time, he went over to his hoverbike and opened its cargo compartment. Reaching inside, he drew out a datapad. Turning it on, he checked to make sure that it was functioning properly. A red screen appeared, indicating that he did not have the proper code for searching the pad and reading the data on it. He gave a satisfied smile and then went back to the flaming helicopter. He went over to the rear passenger compartment and found that it was completely blown out, with the Rocket Grunt's body having been flung a ways away from the helicopter and the Badge Amplifier having been completely blown apart. Going over to it, he placed the datapad on the ground not far beyond the Grunt, making it look as if he had been carrying it when the helicopter crashed and eventually exploded. He only hoped that Ash and/or Mia would realize that the datapad was important and read the data on it as quickly as possible.

Hearing Charizard approach, he realized that he had to leave as quickly as possible. He promptly went back to his hoverbike and mounted it. Starting its engine, he powered it up and once it was on, he rode away from the scene, praying that Ash and Mia would be the ones to pick the datapad. Besides, he had one more thing to do before leaving.

Meanwhile, Charizard arrived at the crash site and went in for a closer look. He had been drawn to the scene by the smoke rising from the flaming wreckage, as well as the massive fireball that was generated when the helicopter finally exploded. He landed close to the burning helicopter. Upon landing, Ash and Mia quickly dismounted from the dragon, with Pikachu jumping off of his shoulder, and they headed over to examine the burning wreckage. As they scanned the helicopter, they found the burnt bodies of the pilot and who they suspected to be Giovanni in the cockpit. They found two more bodies in the passenger area, which they figured were Giovanni's personal guards, as well as the body of a Rocket a few meters away from the helicopter, not too far away from the dead Hypno. The teens figured that they had been thrown from the helicopter either during the crash or its eventual explosion.

As they were about to leave, though, and report that Giovanni was dead, something close to the fallen Rocket outside the helicopter caught their eye. They headed over to the fallen Rocket and noticed a datapad lying on the ground just a little beyond his reach. Without a word, Mia went over to check the datapad and saw that it was not currently activated. She knelt down and picked it up, examining it. Ash went over to her and asked, "What is it?"

"It's a datapad," she answered sarcastically.

"I can see that," Ash retorted. "Do you know what's on it?"

"Only one way to find out," Mia answered as she pushed the "on" button.

The datapad's screen came alive and a bright white light appeared on the screen. Soon, words appeared on the screen, along with a voice speaking, "DNA scan complete. Identification confirmed. Welcome Mia Ketchum."

Ash and Mia's eyes went wide with surprise as the datapad came alive and suddenly, folders and files appeared on the screen. One file quickly drew their attention as it was labeled, _Open this first_.

Mia placed the cursor over the file and opened it. The screen soon went blank and a hologram rose from the pad. Suddenly, the image of their father appeared before them, a kind smile framing his face. They noticed that he was wearing a black suit of what looked to be a weave of Kevlar C and spider silk. It was then that the hologram of their father began to speak.

"Hello Ash, Mia. I wish I could give you this message in person, but doing so would be too dangerous, for you and for me. Needless to say, there is a lot I wish I could tell you, but I'll have to give you the short version, instead. An army called the Subspace Army has taken an interest in you, as well as others on Earth." Images of various people and creatures soon appeared on the datapad's screen. "The images you see are of various people and creatures that are either a part of the Subspace Army or are potential recruits for the army. Data on these creatures, as well as other soldiers in the army, is available on this datapad. It details the strengths and weaknesses of the general of the Subspace Army, as well as those that are of interest to the Army. Not only that, but there is also information on other heroes that the Subspace Army is aware of on this pad." Images of more people appeared on the screen, including Ash and Mia's own faces. They also recognized May, Dawn, and Pikachu, along with Ash recognizing Mewtwo. Mia also recognized the faces of Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Captain Falcon. After a second, John continued, "I know you have made contact with and even befriended some of these heroes. You must get this data to them. Everyone who is a hero must know about the threat that the Subspace Army poses. It is very powerful but has limited numbers, for the moment. That is why it is recruiting as many troops and outside armies into its ranks as it is. However, it will not waste an opportunity to take out any heroes that might be a threat to it if it gets the chance. To do so, they will likely use the armies they either have recruited or are planning on recruiting in order to eliminate their targets. For you, that will likely be Team Rocket. I already know that the Subspace Army has been, and still is, sending weapons to Team Rocket."

The teens smiled as they knew that Team Rocket had been reduced to nothing more than a bad memory with their leader having been killed. Soon, John continued, "I wish I could talk with you in person. There is so much I want to tell you, and tell your mother. If she is not present here, do not tell her about what you have learned. I don't want her being put in any danger." He paused before continuing. "Before this message ends, there is one more thing you need to know. Ash, the Subspace Army knows that you have become the World Pokémon League Champion and that Mia is a previous Champion and the bane of Team Rocket. It is also aware of the accomplishments of your friends, too. Not too long from now, they will likely give you, Mia, and your friends that are on this pad an invitation to attend and participate in the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. Don't go. It's a trap. They plan to have the heroes all in one place so they can destroy them in one fell swoop. That must not happen." He then smiled and told them, "Good luck to all of you. I love you." With that, the message ended and the screen went blank once more before the files and folders reappeared on the screen. However, there was a file that was labeled _for Mia only_. Mia immediately placed the cursor and opened it. Immediately, the image of her father appeared once more. However, he looked to be more wistful in his appearance.

"Hello Mia. I know that you have heard some rumors about your mother, and have even seen her with the Rocket agent Marcus and talking on friendly terms with Professor Oak and I know that you hold a grudge against the professor because of this. I just want you to know that your mother rejected Marcus, and Professor Oak never made any romantic overtures towards her. I know. I have been watching over her, and even you and Ash, all this time I was with the Subspace Army. I know that the belief that your mother betrayed me has been haunting you and has been with you for a long time. I just wanted you to know that your mother kept her honor. She is an incredible woman and I see a lot of her best qualities in you, too. Continue to be the good person that you are."

With that, the message ended and the image of their father disappeared once more. As soon as the message ended, the teens looked down at the ground wistfully. "She stayed true despite suffering from the memory wipe, despite everything I saw," Mia said, almost in disbelief, yet also in hope. "I saw her with Marcus. I saw her kissing him and inviting him into your home."

"Mom stayed true," Ash told her. "I was there when she ended her relationship with him. She did it to set a good example for me." He paused before adding, "I was never more proud of her in my life until today when she fought alongside us against Team Rocket."

Mia still looked down at the ground, a ton of conflicting emotions going through her mind. She would have to sort it all out later. Right now, they had to get back to the others so they could finish clearing out Pokémon League Headquarters.

Before departing the scene and going back to Charizard so they could return to Pokémon League Headquarters to assist in the clearing of the headquarters, Mia stuffed the datapad into her backpack so that it would not be discovered and so that it would not be lost. Once she was ready, they prepared to depart the woods.

Just as they were departing the woods, and before they had mounted Charizard to return to the base, they saw the figures of Delia, May, Dawn, Tracey, and Professor Oak rushing towards them, along with Ash's Pokémon. As soon as Delia arrived, she threw her arms around him, almost crying with joy that he was okay. "Ash! Mia!" she cried. "You're okay! We saw the helicopter explosion and saw Charizard headed towards it."

The two children returned their mother's hug and smiled as well. They continued to hug for a couple minutes before eventually disengaging. Once they were disengaged, Delia asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine Mom," Mia answered a little wistfully, still thinking about her father's message to her. She looked at her mother and smiled at her for the first time in quite a while, something Delia was quick to notice as she smiled back at her.

"We've confirmed that Giovanni is dead," Ash reported.

Delia and the others did not react for a bit. "We suspected as much," Cynthia answered. "Nevertheless, it's good to know for certain that his threat is gone."

The others quickly echoed her sentiments.

"So how did everything turn out?" Mia asked.

"Cynthia and Lance are scouring the base for any remaining Rockets and data that Team Rocket may have had that will be useful in prosecuting the survivors, as well as finding out who else, if anyone, was supporting them," May answered.

"So, was anyone helping Team Rocket?" Mia asked. She already knew the answer, though.

"They don't know, yet," Tracey answered for the others. "But if I had to venture a guess, I would say that they did have some help. Those Ray Guns and some of their other weaponry isn't exactly standard issue for an organization that has solely relied on Pokémon in the past."

Delia and Dawn agreed. Ash and Mia glanced knowingly at one another, knowing Subspace Army had been funneling weapons to Team Rocket, possibly to draw the two of them out and gauge their skills in battle. Still, there was something about that that bothered them. Thinking about it for a moment, there was a feeling that if the Subspace Army was truly using Team Rocket with the intention of recruiting them at their full power, that they would have sent them more support, and have made certain that Team Rocket would have drawn out more Earth heroes, rather than just a few Pokémon Trainers and a particularly skilled Pikachu. With nothing more to do on the scene of the crash, markers were left at the scene so that any good Pokémon League or Federation forces could find the site and conduct a further investigation, and the group headed back to Pokémon League Headquarters in order to finish the sweep of the base so they could return to the hotel and finish celebrating Ash and Mia's thirteenth birthday.

Not too far away, John watched the scene as Ash and Mia had examined the helicopter's wreckage. As they examined the scene, he prayed that they would go over to the fallen Rocket that was a ways away from the wreckage. He smiled as Mia headed over to the datapad and picked it up. He watched as they played the message and gave a wistful smile. He desperately wished that he could have talked with them in person, but he could not take the risk that Ganondorf was watching. He continued to watch as the message ended and Delia and Ash's friends came upon the scene. Now, more than ever, he wished that he could have spoken to them all directly, but he would not put them in such danger. He then watched as the group departed the scene and headed back to Pokémon League Headquarters. He took one last look at the Pokémon League Headquarters as he departed the scene and headed for an area not too far away from the base in the opposite direction, content with knowing that his wife and children would be safe from Team Rocket.

He did not travel far before he found the object of his search, an injured Ganondorf lying on the ground. When he spotted the former Gerudo King, he pulled his hoverbike up next to his superior officer and dismounted, landing only a few feet away. Ganondorf did not say a word, only groaning as he held his side, turning his head towards the source of the sound. He grunted as he saw that it was John.

"You look terrible," John commented nonchalantly.

"I feel worse," Ganondorf retorted.

"What happened?" John asked, unable to keep a grin from creasing his lips.

"That psychic cat is a bit stronger than I expected."

"You were warned that the real heroes are stronger than their trophy counterparts," John admonished.

"I know," Ganondorf stated, struggling to rise. "But the difference between Mewtwo's supposed lost trophy and the real Mewtwo is night and day. And there's still the potential of Mewtwo eventually Mega Evolving." He then looked at John suspiciously and asked, "And how did you make out on your mission?"

"Unfortunately, I struck out," John answered. "Team Rocket was beaten and I'm concerned that Giovanni may have been trying to make a move against us." He then gave a chuckle. "Looks like we'll both have some explaining to do to Master Hand."

He then helped Ganondorf onto the back of his hoverbike and proceeded to mount it. Once both riders were comfortably on the bike, John told his commander, "Hold on." With that, John and Ganondorf rocketed away from Pokémon League Headquarters so they could return to Subspace and make their report to Master Hand.

Meanwhile, just as the party was departing from the crash scene, another visitor cloaked in a dark blue robe and a blue conical sorcerer's hat with a golden wand with a red crystal head looked on as the party departed the burning wreck of the helicopter. Once they were safely away, the Magikoopa teleported over to the wreckage, using his magic to clear away any flames that would either obscure his vision or actually endanger him. He quickly went to scan the helicopter to see if there was anyone that was still salvageable, for the magic of the Magikoopas was able to restore people who had suffered incredible damage to their bodies, damage that would have been unable to be repaired even by advanced civilizations like the Galactic Federation.

Looking down at the scene, he saw the burned remains of Matori, whose body was too badly damaged to be saved, even by Magikoopas. The Magikoopa's gaze then reached Giovanni, who had miraculously suffered relatively minor burns from the explosion. Still, there was the shot to his head that would be difficult to repair. Kamek grunted. Reviving Giovanni would not be easy. And even if it was possible, he may well have come back as nothing more than a zombie. Still, it was better than nothing and Kamek's master had ordered him to bring back anyone of worth. With the twins beyond his reach, and well protected by their Pokémon friends and other friends, Giovanni was currently the best, and only, option. He would have to make do with the failure of the Team Rocket Boss. If nothing else, the boss, or a facsimile of him, could be used to unite the remnants of Team Rocket and give his master's forces a boost of some sort in the future. To that end, Kamek waved his wand, which emitted golden magical dust, and Giovanni's corpse rose into the air. With that, Kamek and Giovanni vanished from the scene, with Kamek leaving behind only a burning facsimile of the dead Team Rocket Boss.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

In a realm separate from the Nintendo Universe, the War Council of the Magic Lords gathered in their palace to discuss the events surrounding the death of Aizen. The death of one of their own at the hands of a mortal was hard enough to bear. But given the fact that it was Aizen who died made things even worse for them, especially so soon after the deaths of two other members of their kind on the same world. Eleven Magic Lords, the strongest of their kind, gathered around the table in the main hall of the palace. There were males and females present, as well as the Lords having a variety of skin, hair, and eye color, each dependant on their own whims. Mostly, they looked like Aizen, who had looked like a Tolkienesque Elf with the traditional long, pointed ears, tall figure, and chiseled face. Some, however, took to looking more like a cross between a humanoid and a dragon, having scaly skin and horns, but having two arms and two legs. Each one wore a unique set of armor and also carried swords that were unique to the individual. They carried swords of all kinds, from broadswords, to short swords, to long swords, each one made from a different type of metal. At the center of the table was a silver bowl. The atmosphere around the table was a somber, which was a rarity for a species as powerful and proud as they were. However, they had a good reason to be somber, and also gravely concerned for their future plans.

Once the council was gathered, one of the Magic Lords, a male with blond hair and green eyes stood up to address the rest of the council. "We have all gathered here today due to alarming news coming from Earth. By now, I am certain that you all know this council's leader and the strongest of our people, Aizen, has fallen in battle. He was killed while fighting an enemy known as Mewtwo despite his newfound ability to resist psychic powers and attacks. Mewtwo was a psychic enemy with powers similar to the humans that made up the Chosen Four. It is almost certain that Aizen was attempting to avenge the deaths of his children, Aglara and Aramon, the former of which he had to absorb her power and knowledge into himself, killing her, so that it would not be lost when she succumbed to her injuries. We all know what Aizen had managed to acquire with the absorption of the powers and abilities of Aglara. He was the key to the creation of the new Dark Dragon! Without him, the entire project is in peril. The new Dark Dragon would have the same weaknesses as the old one, which was defeated by a handful of human psychics. Yes they were stronger than normal human psychics, but the Chosen Four were the main force behind the Dark Dragon's defeat. And the Dark Dragon had access to the Star Rod, something we no longer have."

"Perhaps we should have assisted him in his attempt to get revenge against Mewtwo and Samus Aran for the deaths of Aglara and Aramon," a female Magic Lord with black hair and black eyes commented sagely.

"Such a plan would have been fraught with risk," a second male Magic Lord countered. "Aizen was the only one who had managed to overcome our extreme weakness to psychic powers and the Light. Any attempt to support him could have resulted in even more losses, which would have jeopardized our plans."

"Aizen was the backbone of our plans. Without him, we're practically back at Square One!" the female Magic Lord countered.

"Enough!" the first Magic Lord boomed. "This bickering will get us nowhere. What we must do now is focus on our future."

"But Aizen _was_ our future," a fourth Magic Lord, this one a male who looked like a cross between a human and a dragon, interjected. "With his death, all of our plans must be put on hold."

"We must go to Earth and avenge the losses of Aizen and his children. If enough of us go, we may be able to kill this Mewtwo!" the female Magic Lord blurted. "He is dangerous enough that the cost in life would be well worth the gain if we can get some of our servant races to pick up some of the slack. We could eliminate a great threat and show the rest of the universe the price for killing one of our kind."

"So we could all join Aizen in death?" the third Magic Lord retorted. "How do you intend to get down onto the planet so we can kill Mewtwo? That planet has a defense grid that could destroy a small stellar empire! And that's before we end up having to deal with the various Legendary Pokémon, many of whom are psychic, and now the Chosen Four! Cyrus's attack on Earth showed just how difficult and costly an attack on that planet is, and in the end, he lost the planet, and his life in that battle. The only reason Aizen was able to make any moves on Earth at the time was because he was already on world when the Federation in Exile and United Earth forces retook the planet from Cyrus and the false Federation!"

"As of right now, a direct attack on Earth is out of the question," the first Magic Lord, and the de facto leader of the council declared. "It would just be too costly, even with our servant races picking up much of the slack. And there is still the very real chance that our attack would fail."

"But we can't just let Mewtwo's defeat of Aizen go unchallenged!" the female Magic Lady insisted. "We have to do something!"

"And we shall when the time comes," the council leader assured her, as well as the others who thought like her. "Mewtwo and Samus will pay for the deaths of Aizen, Aglara, and Aramon. And Earth shall also be dealt with, eventually. But right now, we must turn our attention towards more pressing matters. While the avenue of using Aizen to make the new Dark Dragon immune to psychic powers and the light has been thwarted, there are still other options that we can search for. As it is right now, we must focus on other sources of potential resistance and alternative methods to neutralizing our weakness to psychic powers and the Light, so that when we create the new Dark Dragon, it will not have the same vulnerabilities that the previous one did."

The rest of the council then took their seat again and listened to the latest reports from other areas of interest such as Hylia, Pop Star, and other worlds that held their interest. Still, the pal of Aizen's death hung heavily over them and suddenly, despite their bluster when speaking about their plans and how they had not lost anyone on any of the other worlds…yet, they were no longer so certain of the supremacy of their power, not after having lost their strongest member, along with two adolescents that were as strong as some of the stronger Magic Lords from the pre Dark Dragon days less than three months apart. Their aura of invincibility was now gone, both to them and to their enemies. And that frightened them more than anything.

On Smash World, innumerable light-years away from Earth, Ganondorf made his way up a long set of stairs in a narrow, gray corridor not too far away from the base's main control room. The stairs led to a separate sector of the base where the leader of the Subspace Army, Master Hand, resided. The path was lined with a red carpet, and there were numerous statues of various robotic figures with square bases with treads, a square head with two eyes and two arms on the body. He scowled at the sensors, wanting Master Hand to know his displeasure at having to report on the latest events on Earth. He ignored the Primids, dark-skinned beings with dark purple blobs of energy leaking from various parts of their body dressed in green uniforms and hats, as well as the Fire Primids, who were identical to their normal Primid brethren save for their red uniforms and hats, and were capable of breathing fire, as he made his way up the stairs. The Primids made no moves as Ganondorf ascended the stairs on his way to see Master Hand. They could see the scowl on his face and did not want to provoke his wrath. While they had not known what had happened to make Ganondorf so angry, they suspected that something had gone wrong on Earth once more and that the Gerudo King would have to make another report about it to Master Hand.

Eventually, Ganondorf reached the top of the stairs and saw a large metal door standing in his way. Standing, or rather, sitting in front of the metal door, were two powerful robot soldiers known as Galleom and Duon. Galleom was a large gray and purple robot with simian features that had thick arms and thinner legs that could transform into a tank. It also had a two missile launchers on its back that could fire volleys of missiles at its target. It was extremely strong in close combat, but it was devastating at range, especially in tank form. The second robot, Duon, was a two-sided robot on top of a set of two large wheels. One half was pink while the other half was blue. The pink half had a head cannon and two arm cannons, while the blue half had two arm swords and a curved blade on the top of its head. Each half also had exhaust pipes that were capable of shooting either missiles or mines.

The robots stared at him, preparing to fire a volley of attacks should Ganondorf not provide the proper proof of identification. Ganondorf shrugged. He could have destroyed both of the robots with little more than single attacks if it suited him. However, they were resource intensive to build and highly valuable to Master Hand. Besides, they were valuable soldiers that could take the pressure off some of the more powerful generals when the time for fighting really came.

Stepping forward, he declared, "I am here to see Master Hand."

The robots' eyes glowed as they scanned the Gerudo King in order to make sure that it was really Ganondorf and not an impostor that was talking to them. The Gerudo King grimaced, not thinking that all of these security precautions were necessary, but Master Hand had felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. After the scan was complete, they bowed before the general in a non-threatening manner and stepped aside, allowing Ganondorf access to the Subspace Army leader's chamber. The Gerudo King approached the doors and when he arrived, he threw them open and went on in.

Inside the chamber, he saw a large white gloved right hand floating above the floor at the end of the chamber. Other than that, the area was sparsely furnished, with only a few seats and a table for the human(oid) guests that would gather there for a meeting with him. Ganondorf scowled as he saw a human figure standing near the hand. As he approached, he saw that it was John Ketchum, the human recruit that Master Hand had personally recruited to the Subspace Army, himself. The presence of the human did nothing to lighten Ganondorf's spirits. Once he went up to the hand, he looked over at John and demanded, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I am making my report to Master Hand as to the events that recently occurred on planet Earth," came the human's answer.

Ganondorf's eyes went wide with surprise. "Then why was I summoned here?" he demanded.

"I want to hear your own analysis as to what happened," the deep voice of Master Hand answered.

Ganondorf scowled as he made his report. "Team Rocket went to attack some of the Chosen Heroes, among them Ash Ketchum, Mia Ketchum, Ash's Pikachu, and Pokémon Coordinators May and Dawn. The attack ended in failure and the group pursued them back to their base, where the Pokémon League assisted Team Rocket in stopping the heroes for a time and capturing all but Ash and Pikachu. Mia then escaped and came into our possession for a time but the plan to use Team Rocket to gain a Pokémon army failed and Mia was freed from our control during Ash's attack on Pokémon League Headquarters." Ganondorf gave a pause before continuing. "During my time on Earth, I witnessed the battle between the Chosen Heroes and Team Rocket that took place at the hotel as well as having participated in later battles against Mewtwo. There were two instances that jumped out at me. First was the fact that Domino, an Elite Rocket Officer, had been killed after she had gained leverage of the Chosen Heroes that would have allowed them to be captured or killed, specifically by threatening a woman named Delia Ketchum." He then cast a dark glance at John. "Second, and this one took place in the final battle, was the shooting down of the helicopter that contained Giovanni as a passenger, its downing killing him in the process." Turning to John, Ganondorf pointed at him. "I believe that _you_ were the one who shot him down!" he accused.

Surprisingly, John made no attempt to deny it. He simply returned Ganondorf's glare. "And if you had been paying attention to the situation at Pokémon League Headquarters, rather than fighting Mewtwo, against Master Hand's orders may I remind you, you would have learned that it was a good thing I did!" he retorted.

"What do you mean?" Ganondorf demanded, surprised by John's admission, but remaining skeptical.

The human took out a silver datapad and activated it. The images of _all_ of the Subspace Army commanders and leaders appeared on the screen. He tapped an image of Ganondorf and immediately, all of the information that the Subspace Army had on the Gerudo King came up: everything from his physical appearances, feats, to strengths and weaknesses. John then tapped another image and the data for a Pterodactyl-like creature known as Ridley appeared. The data also seemed to point out the Space Dragon's capabilities, along with his strengths and weaknesses. "And that's not all," John continued. Pushing another button, the images of people of interest appeared on the pad, too, along with their data. He let the impact of what he had shown hit Ganondorf, as well as Master Hand, before speaking again. "I found this inside the downed helicopter. It was in Giovanni's hands. He was clutching it before I finished him off. In addition, before the battle, I had noticed that Giovanni had plans to go after a large number of Legendary Pokémon. That was what drew our attention to him in the first place. Our hope was to use these Pokémon to create more powerful cannon fodder soldiers. The replica of Rayquaza just isn't enough for what is to come. As I was saying to Master Hand before your arrival, during my time on Earth, I also noticed that a non-human was working with Team Rocket. At first, I thought it was a Hylian, but I eventually discovered that this person was, instead, a Magic Lord."

"It is easy to mistake the two since they look so similar physically," Master Hand interjected, as if explaining why John would be investigating the appearance of a Hylian or Magic Lord.

"Yes," Ganondorf nodded. "That Magic Lord drew my attention, too. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on what else you may have, he was defeated by the Psychic-type Pokémon Mewtwo, another Chosen Hero, albeit one that currently does not have a trophy here on Smash World since the trophy was destroyed before the Great Trophy Rebellion."

"Then you wouldn't miss anything," Master Hand interjected. "We already know that the real heroes are almost always stronger than their Trophy counterparts, some them tremendously so. Given that Mewtwo is a psychic and that he defeated a Magic Lord, I would think that the pathetic Trophy Mewtwo was nothing like the real one in power and capacity."

"Thank you, Master," John said to Master Hand, bowing. "Getting back on topic, there was a very real possibility that Giovanni knew that we were the ones funneling weapons and information to him and that he was preparing for an attack on us, or at least planning to threaten us so he could gain leverage over our forces. He did, after all, launch a raid on Goldenrod City's Radio Tower that, had he been successful, would have allowed him to transmit a code that would have taken control of all Trainer owned Pokémon in Japan. With them, he would have had a powerful army that could rival everyone save maybe you," he concluded, indicating Master Hand.

"Yes, but _you_ stopped them before they could transmit the code and we could hijack it to take control of the Pokémon!" Ganondorf retorted.

"Giovanni's forces were too close to success and would most certainly have used the Pokémon against us," John countered. "Giovanni was this close to forming an army to use against us and potentially launch a very damaging attack on us. With Giovanni's death, a potentially serious threat has been dealt with and we also have more information on the Chosen Heroes."

"Did you make sure to destroy all traces of data or technology on that downed helicopter before Chosen Heroes came to investigate?" Ganondorf asked harshly.

John nodded. "I did and more. The only piece of data remaining from the helicopter was this. In addition, the data inside the base was wiped clean. I think that Giovanni had been concealing his true plans from his subordinates."

Ganondorf cast a skeptical glance at the human. He then turned back to Master Hand. "Do you believe him?" the Gerudo King asked. It was obvious that Ganondorf had his misgivings.

"I see no reason not to," Master Hand answered. "After all, I was the one who sent him to investigate the situation in the first place, as well as to destroy the code if we could not use it for our objectives."

This admission shocked Ganondorf. "What?" he blurted. "Then why not tell me? You told me he was there to secure troops!"

"It was necessary to keep this investigation quiet until it was finished," the hand answered. "The investigator had to be human as well, so that Team Rocket, and Giovanni, would not have suspected anything. He may have even been listening in on you, as well. Passing John off as a Pokémon League investigator or as an independent Pokémon Trainer would have been easy. That would not be the case with you. Besides, Giovanni may have used his Psychic-type Pokémon to try to scan you. There was a small chance that they would have been successful if they were smart about going about the scan and/or if you were arrogant and had your mental defenses lowered. That would not have been the case with John, who is merely a mundane human and always has his mind on guard."

"Then why did you send me to Earth in the first place?" Ganondorf asked.

"To keep an eye on John," the hand answered. "If, by some small chance, he did plan on betraying us, you would be the perfect person to deal with him since he has nothing that can hurt you. And to get him out of there if things went wrong."

"I see," Ganondorf answered, seemingly satisfied with Master Hand's answer. Still, he cast a suspicious glance at John. Turning back to Master Hand, he asked, "Will that be all?"

"Yes," Master Hand answered. "Unless there is something else you wish to add."

"There is," Ganondorf answered. Going up to the hand, he got in close and whispered, "Don't keep John in the loop as to our full plans for the Heroes."

"Why not?" Master Hand whispered back.

"Because I don't trust him. What he said about Giovanni may be true, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was. But in taking down Giovanni, he also saved his own children. In addition, there is the fact that an Elite Rocket Officer was killed by a Ray Gun and that her death saved not only his children's lives, but also that of his wife as well. I think that he has an attachment to his family and if he finds out our plans, he'll betray us."

"I see," Master Hand said. "I'll take what you said under advisement."

"Thank you, Master," Ganondorf said, bowing. "Will there be anything else?"

"Yes," Master Hand answered. "There is another set of invitations to the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Tournament. I need you and some Subspace Army agents to deliver them to the proper recipients."

"It shall be done, Master Hand," Ganondorf replied, bowing. The Gerudo King then rose and departed from Master Hand's chamber. As he left, he gave a sly grin. Now all he had to do was to start making plans of his own. He had sown the seeds of mistrust towards John. It would not be long before he did so towards the other general as well, should it be necessary. While he would have no problem serving Master Hand for the time being, especially if it would get him a battle against Link, he would be ready to take over the Subspace Army and make it his own when the time came.

Back inside the chamber, John breathed a sigh of relief when Ganondorf departed. As soon as the doors closed, Master Hand turned to him and said, "That was a close one." Looking sternly, or as sternly as a gloved hand could look, he asked, "Are you sure that no one else saw you shoot down the helicopter or create the data?"

"I'm positive," John answered. "Everyone will think that any data that finds its way into the hands of the Heroes would have originally been gathered either by Aizen or by Giovanni."

"Did you make sure to put the datapad where your children would see and retrieve it?"

"Of course," John answered. "And I'm happy to say that they took the datapad and received the message."

Master Hand gave a sigh. "You were right. The recent turn of events _is_ quite fortuitous. Aizen has been killed, which means that the Magic Lords' plans have been dealt a severe setback, if not outright crippled or beaten. This will allow the heroes on Earth to focus their attention on dealing with the Subspace Army. Still, be careful of Ganondorf. He's getting suspicious of you. He told me that I should not trust you."

"I'd be wary of trusting him, in turn," John told Master Hand. "If I remember correctly, Trophy Ganondorf intended to usurp your command of the Subspace Army during the Trophy Rebellion. I wouldn't be surprised if the real one tried something like that here, too."

"I am well aware of his plans. But he has his 'uses', for the moment. No," the hand said, shaking in the negative. "We can't move openly against him, or the rest of the army yet. As it is, though, we won't be focusing on Earth for a while, so you won't be heading back there anytime soon."

"I understand." John then focused on Master Hand. He then said, "Master Hand, ever since I was recruited, you have been the face of the Subspace Army and its leader. However, if you were its leader, would you not simply order the army to not attack the rest of the universe or the Chosen Heroes and, instead, protect it? Surely the army would listen to and obey your orders."

"It's not that simple," Master Hand lamented.

"I know," John said plainly. He then gave a pause. "So who is the real leader of the Subspace Army?"

The question took Master Hand off guard. He cast a glance down at the human and answered, "I cannot reveal that information yet."

"But there _is_ someone above you, isn't there."

Master Hand shook up and down in affirmation. "No one knows that there is someone else above me in the army. Whatever you do, you cannot tell anyone what I have told you just now, not even your own children should you come across them. Protect your thoughts carefully John. Ganondorf knows that we are close and that I have confided in you, just as I have confided in him as well. He will likely try to scan your mind to learn of any weaknesses that I may have."

"I'll be careful." After a pause, John asked, "Will there be anything else?"

"No. You may go."

After he had been given leave to depart, John went over to the exit and walked through the doors. As he made his way through, Master Hand wondered if he had revealed too much information to John. While John was a good person and loyal to his family, he was also only a normal human. He did not have the same mental defenses that someone like Ganondorf did. Carrying the information that he did would be a great burden, especially if Ganondorf had more missions for him.

Back on Earth, a week had past since the death of Giovanni and the fall of Team Rocket. The Pokémon League, those that had not been part of Mercier's plan, had taken the survivors of Team Rocket, including Archer, Ariana, Petrel, Proton, Jessie, James, Meowth, and the few other Grunts that had not been killed during the fighting, into custody and were about to put them on trial. Many considered the trial to be a mere formality, for while they would let the judicial system take its course, there was more than enough evidence to send the Executives to prison forever, if not have them be outright executed for their crimes. The Team Rocket Trio, however, would fare better since they had not actually killed anyone, or tried to do so, either. As for the Grunts, they, too, were facing charges and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Not only that, but Archer and Ariana had quickly turned on all Pokémon League officials that had sided with Team Rocket, those that were still alive, and the League was cleaning house with great prejudice. For all intents and purposes, though, the fall of Team Rocket was complete. With only a few surviving Grunts and all of the surviving Executives arrested, the threat of Team Rocket was now over. The bigger question would be what would happen with the Pokémon League.

The World Pokémon League had lost Jean Mercier as its President, as well as all of the Council members when Giovanni had rigged the fake Badge Amplifier to explode. That left a massive power vacuum in the Pokémon League. Many wanted Charles Goodshow to take the reins again and become its President, but he had refused, citing that he had reached his term limit. However, not many others wanted the post given how Jean Mercier had sullied the Pokémon League's reputation. Some wondered if it was time to abolish the World Pokémon League in its entirety. Others did not want to be so hasty and believed that the League could still be saved. There was still one more concern that was on the League's mind: United Earth.

With the scandal rocking the Pokémon League, United Earth was taking a keen interest in the activities of the Pokémon League and was taking this opportunity to investigate the World Pokémon League, as well as the smaller Leagues. They had already requested talks with Ash, Mia, May, Dawn, Lance, and Cynthia to get their take on what had happened since they had been on the front lines of the battle. They all agreed and had given depositions to the investigators, including Looker, who was also investigating on behalf of both United Earth and the honest World Pokémon League.

Ash set down the newsletter and looked over at Pikachu. He had been trying to decide what to do with himself now that he had accomplished the goal he had set for himself ever since he was young. He was finally a Pokémon Master. And while he was thrilled to have accomplished his life's goal, the title did not seem to have the same ring right now that it had when he was younger. Perhaps Mia's talk from when they had met at the Pokémon Center just after the Championship battle was rubbing off on him. Though, the events surrounding the death of Giovanni and the fall of Team Rocket also played a role. He had seen the dark side of the World Pokémon League, who had been willing to enslave every Trainer-owned Pokémon in order to take over the world just so they would not have to adapt to the times where Pokémon were being seen sentient beings and equal to humans in rights. Even though the Pokémon Masters that he had met had been good people who treated their Pokémon well and even as equals, he wanted to show the world that humans and Pokémon could work together as equals, not merely as master and servant.

He soon heard a clank outside the house, the unmistakable sound of the mailbox clanging shut. Looking at the time, it read twelve fifteen in the afternoon. It was relatively early for the mail to come but he decided that he would go out and check it anyway. As he went to get up, he saw a blur of motion come down the stairs as Mia rushed outside to get the mail before he had finished rising. Her haste piqued his curiosity and he quickly rose to follow her. Pikachu quickly jumped up onto his shoulder as they followed the girl outside. As soon as they got outside, Mia was already heading back with a small number of envelopes. She approached Ash and Pikachu, holding out two envelopes. "Here," she said, tossing both of them an envelope. "It looks like you both got mail."

Ash was quite surprised that not only he, but also Pikachu, had received mail. "Both of us?" he asked, perplexed that Pikachu would also receive a letter. He did not even know if Pikachu could read human writing.

Mia nodded. They both took the letter and examined the envelope. They both had the home address of Ash and his family, but no return address at all. Looking ever at Mia, he noticed that she, too, was examining her letter. Her letter also had an identical envelope as well. He then opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. He opened the letter and began to read it. It read:

 _Dear Ash Ketchum:_

 _Your daring exploits and feats have not gone unnoticed throughout the universe. As a result of your tremendous feats of not only becoming the World Pokémon League Champion, but also defeating Team Rocket and its leader, Giovanni, you are cordially invited to participate in the first ever Super Smash Bros. Competition that will begin starting in May of next year. The Super Smash Bros. Competition is where the greatest of heroes from all around the multiverse assemble to see just who among the best is the best. There are many competitions ranging from fighting, to breaking the targets, to homerun contests, to stamina matches, and more. There is an attached pamphlet to further explain the various contests you may partake in in the Super Smash Bros. competition, as well as a return envelope for you to mail your response in. Please send us your response by the thirty-first of December of this year if you plan to attend. Should you wish to attend, we will mail you all the information regarding the location of the competition. Should you wish to attend, your family will be automatically allowed to attend the competition as spectators, those who are, themselves, not participants. We hope that you will attend this prestigious event and bring your skills to this challenging competition._

 _from,_

 _The Super Smash Stadium_

Ash proceeded to fold up the letter as he finished reading it. The invitation to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament that his father had warned him and Mia about had come. Looking back at Pikachu, and then at Mia, he quickly saw that they, too, had received invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament, evidenced by the expression on their faces and their glances back at him. His return glance told them everything they needed to know. Mia quickly folded the letter and put it back in her envelope. They faced each other for a second before Mia eventually broke the silence. "Well, this came sooner than expected."

Ash and Pikachu both nodded in agreement. They, too, were surprised at how quickly the invitations had come. Mia handed her letter over to him and he took it and read it, seeing that the writing was almost identical to his, save for the fact that the writer used her name, rather than his. Reading over Pikachu's version, he found that it, too, was written the same way, almost as if they were being mass-produced. He was surprised that he could read Pikachu's letter and he suspected that there was something special about the letters or the paper they were written on that would allow Pikachu to read them. He looked back at Mia and quickly realized that she was thinking the same thing. This Super Smash Brothers Tournament was going to have a lot of participants. They figured that it would not be out of the realm of possibility that at least a few dozen participants could enter into the tournament, with there likely being as many as sixty-four, possibly more. All three of them glanced at each other and nodded. They would heed the warning that their father had left them in the letter and would not accept the invitation, unless the situation changed so that they could be in the position of strength when they went.

After a few seconds, they heard the voices of May and Dawn call out to them, "Hey Ash, Mia."

The twins looked out at the sidewalk and saw May and Dawn waving and coming over to them. "May, Dawn," Ash called out in surprise as he went over to meet them. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to check in on an old friend," May answered.

"Me, too," Dawn echoed. "And besides, we're going to participate in a new Contest Festival in a few weeks, along with us modeling a new fashion collection."

"That's great. Good luck to both of you," Ash congratulated.

May and Dawn beamed back at him and smiled kindly towards Mia. They quickly noticed that Mia was holding onto a letter. Looking over at Ash and Pikachu, they also noticed that they were holding onto letters. "Wow, did you get invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament too?" Dawn asked.

Ash, Mia, and Pikachu's eyes flashed with surprise at the mention of the tournament and that they knew of it. "Yeah," Ash answered for the other two. "How did you know about it?"

The two girls reached into their backpacks and pulled out invitations of their own. "We got our invitations this morning. We're planning on going," Dawn told him.

"Don't," Mia warned succinctly. "It's a trap."

May and Dawn looked at her with surprise. "A trap? What makes you say that?"

"When we found Giovanni's helicopter, we saw a datapad that had information that told us that the tournament was an elaborate trap by an enemy force to bring Chosen Heroes together so they could all be dealt with at once," Ash answered. He knew that his father had not been that specific, but he could extrapolate what the plan was. He did not want to go into detail with May and Dawn just yet, but figured that they needed to know.

"Ash and I have already decided not to go," Mia told them.

"There's more," Ash told them. "But I don't want to discuss it out here. We should talk about this inside."

"Okay," the two girls said waveringly as they glanced at one another, concerned at Ash's newfound serious personality, and went to follow Ash and Mia into their house.

Just as they were about to head inside a flash appeared in front of them and a tall bipedal cat-like Pokémon appeared directly in front of the group. Ash immediately recognized the Pokémon as Mewtwo. "Mewtwo!" he blurted in surprise. "This is unexpected. What are you doing here?"

Mia looked over at Ash and was surprised that he knew the Pokémon but smiled all the same. "You know it?" she asked.

"This is Mewtwo," Ash told her, motioning towards the psychic cat-like Pokémon. "We've met twice before the battle against Team Rocket and have gone on an adventure both times," he told them.

"I am an enemy of Team Rocket," Mewtwo said, bowing before the humans. May and Dawn knew this but Mia was unfamiliar with him. Still, from what she was hearing, she liked him already. He calmly stepped forward, approaching them, smiling gently. "I must say you did excellent work against Team Rocket."

"Thanks," Ash responded, blushing with embarrassment. Mia, May and Dawn also gave shy smiles.

Mia gazed intently at Mewtwo. She had heard of rumors about Mewtwo but had never met him before, though she had encountered a Mew before. She pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon. The scans of Mewtwo's power readings came back and her eyes went wide as they were off the scale. They were far superior to any Legendary Pokémon that she had ever encountered before. "Wow, what is a Pokémon with your power doing talking to normals like us?" she asked.

Mewtwo then produced an envelope and held it out in front of him. "I am a friend of Ash's," he answered. "And I also recently received this invitation from a place called the Super Smash Stadium to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. I could not help but notice that the five of you also received the same invitation."

He showed them the letter and when they read it, they noted that the only difference was the fact that it mentioned that he had defeated a being known as a Magic Lord, as well as having faced down and beaten two Magic Lords previously, Dark Arceus, and helped Samus Aran against a Dark Arceus trophy along with a fabricated Dialga and Palkia. Upon reading the letter, Ash asked, "What's a Magic Lord?"

"An enemy of incredible power," Mewtwo answered cautiously. "Aizen would have been far out of your league had he seriously come after you, which it appears as if he did not. I must say that while Aizen and the Magic Lords were the main reason I came to talk to you, since he was also working with Team Rocket, it appears as if it is not the only reason this meeting is as fortuitous as it is."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

Mewtwo motioned towards Ash's invitation to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. "You're not the only ones to receive invitations to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. At first, I was merely curious about whether or not you had been invited as well, with you having played pivotal roles in Team Rocket's demise, but now, it seems as if this tournament is not all it seems. I am planning my own investigation into it."

"But why come to talk to us at all?" Ash asked. "What can we do that you can't?"

"Sometimes, the one who makes all the difference is the one normal that no one would expect," Mewtwo answered. He then looked at them sternly. "Things are happening. Plans are being set in motion both by the Subspace Army and the Magic Lords. The Magic Lords have an extreme vulnerability to psychic powers. From what I can gather, Aizen was supposed to be the answer. His daughter, Aglara, had managed to gain resistance to psychic powers and a power known as the Light. Aizen absorbed it after Aglara was fatally injured at the end of the Galactic Federation Civil War. With him dead, their plans have hit a large snag, but they are not finished. However, for the moment, I think the Subspace Army is the more pressing threat. That said, though, we all need to work together. The Magic Lords will watch what happens in this next year with keen interest. In addition, we are not the only Chosen Heroes of Earth. We must all assemble and keep in contact with each other. I have a feeling that it will be essential for us to deal with the threats that are coming."

Ash, Mia, and Pikachu nodded sagely. "I think I may know who some of them are," Ash volunteered. "Come on," he offered. "It looks like we all have a matter to discuss."

"I also know a few," Mia volunteered. "Also, according to my father, the Super Smash Bros. Tournament is a trap."

"Then, indeed, we will have much to discuss."

"We'll also want to spread the word about the tournament," Ash added.

"That won't be a problem," both Mia and Mewtwo stated in unison.

With that, Ash and Mia headed into their home, followed by May, Dawn, and Mewtwo. Once they were inside, they proceeded to discuss the information that John had passed on to them, telling them everything.

Meanwhile, in a universe separate from the normal Nintendo universe, a male Dark Elf with fair skin but black hair and black eyes gazed into a crystal ball and watched the scene on Earth as Ash and Mia headed inside their house, followed by May, Dawn, and Mewtwo. As soon as the Psychic-type Pokémon had entered the house, the house went blank to their magical senses. "I can no longer see Chosen Heroes Ash Ketchum, Mia Ketchum, May, Dawn, and Mewtwo," the male said, looking into the ball and seeing only static.

"It is likely that the psychic Pokémon is blocking any scanning attempt," came the reply from a female Dark Elf, who had fair skin, like the male, along with black hair and gray eyes. She came over to the ball and chanted a magical spell in order to try to regain the picture. For a brief moment, the image came back, but soon, it dissolved into static once more. "Indeed, we _are_ being blocked."

"But how can a psychic block us?" the male asked.

"He's likely merely set up a psychic energy field that disrupts any magical attempt to spy on him," the female answered.

"That's not the issue right now," the male said in a worried tone. "The issue right now is that a large number of Chosen Heroes have met and are gathering in a single place."

"But things have greatly changed," the female countered. "Aizen is dead. The only Elvanheim that had resistance to psychic powers is dead. The last of Aizen's family is dead. The Elvanheim have lost their most powerful and important member."

"Yes, but what about the Subspace Army? Even if the Magic Lords plans have suffered with the loss of the Council's leader, the Subspace Army is still building its forces," the male said. "They could become a significant threat."

"Perhaps," the female said thoughtfully. "But I don't think that the Subspace Army will be the real concern. It is powerful on the small scale, but it lacks the numbers and power to threaten the great galactic and universal superpowers. Chances are that the Chosen Heroes will be able to defeat it. The issue there is the prospect of the Magic Lords taking advantage of the Subspace Army's presence and launching a surprise attack on the Heroes."

"That _is_ an issue," the male agreed.

"Then our next course of action is clear. We must ensure that the Magic Lords are unable to plan an attack on the Heroes," the female concluded.

"So when do we reveal ourselves to the Heroes and inform them of the Elvanheim's threat?"

"When the time is right," the female answered.

The male nodded and the two gazed into each other's eyes. Speaking a single alien word, the crystal ball went blank and the two Dark Elves retreated behind a curtain and into the back room, feeling a sense of calm that they had not known in over a thousand years. For the first time in a long time, there was hope, both for the former slaves of the Magic Lords, as well as for the rest of the universe.

Meanwhile, in the bowels of a castle in a dark, fiery land outside of the Mushroom Kingdom, inside a secret chamber that even Bowser, the King of the Koopas, did not know about Kamek stood before a golden bowl, the center of which was shadowy image that resembled a massive turtle. Giovanni lay on a shiny gray table not too far away, easily visible to the figure in the image. The figure did not seem to have too much of an interest in the dead boss of Team Rocket as he listened to Kamek's report.

"Master, it would seem as if Team Rocket has been destroyed practically in its entirety. It also appears as if Giovanni was killed in an explosion, however, he had an energy blast wound in the head right between the eyes. Reviving him will be difficult."

"Can it be done?" the figure in image in the bowl asked in a deep, gruff voice.

"I don't know," Kamek answered. "The damage his body suffered was extensive, but the worst was the headshot he suffered. If he suffered too much brain damage, we'd only be reviving a zombie. We could clone him, but there's no guarantee that the clone would be like him in temperament."

The figure gave a mix between a sigh and a grunt. "Anythign else, Kamek?"

"Well, we were able to identify several Chosen Heroes, included among them are Ash and Mia Ketchum, the boy's Charizard, Greninja, and Pikachu as well, along with Mewtwo, May, and Dawn."

"What of the girl?" the figure asked.

"Which one?" Kamek asked. "There are several."

"Mia Ketchum," the figure replied. "How is our progress coming with her?"

"I don't know," Kamek answered. "Mia was taken over by Shadow Bugs and in her battle against Ash, she was hit by a Thunderbolt that was powered by a Light Ball. The Light from that attack may have dispelled the effects of the Song of Darkness that we planted into her at that concert five year ago. And even then, Mia's own mental strength was strong, greater than I have seen in a normal before, matching that of Mario and Donkey Kong. Her own mental strength allowed her to resist the song's effects. Had she not been so strong, she would already be our slave. Still, there may still be hope. Chances are that she'll be invited to the Super Smash Bros. Tournament. If we can get in, we may be able to begin our plan once more."

"We can't rely on that," the figure barked. After a short pause, he gave another grunt. "So Giovanni may be our only play here."

"Possibly," Kamek answered. "However, it was not all a loss. The Pokémon League has been crippled by the scandal of working with Team Rocket and the Pokémon League Council is now dead. That is one enemy we can cross off the list."

"Which does nothing to the Federation or United Earth," the figure countered. "They're the real danger, here."

"True, but something is better than nothing," Kamek responded, trying to stay positive, though he knew that his master was right. It was a silver lining to a great defeat, even though they had not expended any resources into the battle.

The figure then gave a chuckle. "It's ironic. For how badly Team Rocket failed here, perhaps it was poetic justice. After all, we hired them to kidnap the girl in the first place. Their own greed and lust for her skills is what denied her to us. And now, she was instrumental in their downfall."

"Yes, Master," Kamek answered. "I must say I did get a sense of satisfaction seeing the girl wail on them. And, indeed, if we can either seduce her or control her via another Song of Darkness or some other means, she could be of great service to us if she can be directed to work for us."

"If you can do so, can you make it so she will retain her personality and skill, with the only difference being her allegiance?"

"I should, Master Kamek answered.

"Excellent," the figure rumbled with satisfaction. "Anyway, you should get back to Bowser," the figure told him. "We can't afford for him to become suspicious of your true motives."

Kamek bowed. "Yes, Master," came the Magikoopa's answer. Turning back to the figure, he finished with, "He does not deserve to have your name, Master."

"Yet he is the ruler of the Koopa Kingdom and I am still here, trapped in the Dark World."

"Not for long, Master," Kamek replied with a bow.

"Still, we need him for the moment. You must serve him well. If he can accomplish some of our objectives before I free myself, so much the better."

"Understood, Master," Kamek finished. And with that, Kamek departed the chamber as the image of the mysterious figure vanished.


End file.
